The Three Musketeers
by christibabe
Summary: This is a sequel to A Year In The Life Of Rafael Manoso. Rafael is now 5 years old and the story starts with a very important occasion. Everything isn't as it should because those in power are trying to interfer with Stephanie and her family once again and it's up to Rafael and his friends to deal with the group. There will be updates on all your favorite characters also. Babe HEA
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: The characters you recognize as J.E. are hers. Any other character is a figment of my imagination and any similarities to real persons is merely a coincidence**

This story is definitely AU. The characters have the same physical appearance as in J.E.'s books; however I have changed ages of some characters. This is a Babe HEA and Cupcake fans may not be happy as Joe is dead as are Frank and Helen Plum. The Plums as well as Joe are not portrayed favorably, they were bad characters in the original and references may be made in this story as to what their actions were in the original story. References may be made to any of the books in the series, so if you haven't read them all, you may want to wait to read this. That said…

_**Thanks Vanessa Loor for translating my English to Spanish. **__Any mistakes are mine._

_Four years after A Year in the Life of Rafael Manoso_

Chapter 1: Rafael Gets a Sister

Rafael's POV:

I woke when my alarm went off and I knew today was going to be a special day. Today was the day Katriona was going to come to live with us. Not that she didn't already live here, it's just she would come out of Momma's tummy today. I knew we were going to bypass the gym today. Momma was already feeling off and she wouldn't want to go exercise. I slipped out of bed and searched through my closet for the right outfit. I wanted to make a good impression on Katie when she came into the world. I already felt like I knew her so well. We had communicated quite a bit over the past few months. I gave her a heads up on as much as I could. I was glad Dad was going to be working from Rangeman today and not planning to go out. Momma was going to need him. I had a bad feeling something was going to go wrong.

I hurried and got dressed for the day and made my way to the kitchen. Grandma Ella was there and I smiled as I saw her putting the dishes on the table for breakfast. I hurried forward and hugged her. Ella turned and smiled at me, "Ah Rafael, Como esta mi nietesito?" (How is my little grandson?)

I grinned and replied, "Estoy emocionado porque mi hermana llega a nosotros hoy." (I'm excited because my sister comes to us today.)

Ella's eyes brightened with joy as she said, "Oh Rafael! Que buenas noticias! Estoy ansiosa por la llegada de nuestra chiquita!" (Oh Rafael! Such wonderful news. I am so looking forward to our little one's arrival.)

I replied, "Katriona esta ansiosa por conocer a todo el mundo tambien! Esta tan emocionada por nacer!" (Katriona is looking forward to meeting everyone too! She is so excited to be born.)

Ella helped me to fix my plate and I took my place at the table. Ella kissed my forehead and told me she would see me later when she brought lunch. I kissed her cheek gently and let a feeling of love surround her. Ella left shortly after and I dug into breakfast. I was just finishing up when Momma came into the kitchen rubbing her tummy where Katie was resting for now. I knew she was in pain and today was going to be a long day for her. I slipped in and shored her up as best as I could. I was hoping to get in and out before Momma caught on but I should have known you can't pull anything over on Momma.

Momma turned and beamed at me. She bent and kissed my cheek before saying, "Thank you Rafael. But I got this. It's all part of the process."

I frowned, "I don't like when you hurt." I also sensed something else but I didn't quite understand it yet.

She caressed the top of my head, "It won't hurt for long and it helps me to know when your sister is ready to come."

I placed a hand on Momma's tummy where Katie was resting for now. "It's going to be a long day Momma. Katie won't arrive till close to midnight."

I looked up at Momma to see her roll her eyes and sigh. "Thanks for that bit of encouragement Rafael."

I tilted my head and gave Momma a puzzled look. Something about her tone made her statement seem off. For some reason I didn't think the idea of Katie not arriving till close to midnight was encouraging to her. I decided to think about it more later and I slipped out of my chair and went over to pull Momma's chair back for her. She sent me a smile and sat down. I fixed her a plate and set it before her. She picked at the food, not really eating much. I got a picture of Katie getting upset because she was starving and Momma wasn't eating. I let my gaze wander over everything on the table and smiled as I saw what Katie was wanting. I also knew that would tempt Momma more than anything else. I grabbed the Boston Cream and set it on Momma's plate.

I had to laugh at Momma's reaction when she got her first whiff of the Boston Cream. She picked it up and took a huge bite. Momma moaned and I got a picture of Katie moaning in pleasure as well. I couldn't help laughing. Momma looked at me with a puzzled look. I shrugged, "Katie is happy with your choice."

Momma laughed and took another huge bite. Once she had swallowed she grinned at me and said, "Then I'll make sure I eat the whole thing for her."

True to her word, Momma ate the whole donut. Once we were both done, I cleared the table and put the leftovers in the fridge. Momma and I went into the living room and sat down on the sofa. I made sure Momma was comfortable and then I got the TV remote for her. I got situated beside her and we spent the day snuggled together. Ella came at lunch time and Momma was sleeping so we were very quiet so as not to wake her. I ate my chicken tacos and Ella left a special dish for Momma for when she woke up.

I headed back to the sofa and snuggled back against Momma. I closed my eyes and surrounded us with love. When I woke it was late afternoon. I stilled and took stock of my surroundings. Momma was still sleeping and I frowned. I was sure she would have woken by now. I bit my lip and slipped inside, needing to know Momma was okay. I reached Katie first and she was doing okay. She winked at me and I heard her in my head telling me she was ready to see me soon. I searched until I came to Momma and then I knew what was the problem. This was serious. I was going to need reinforcements in the worst way. I concentrated and sent out the SOS.

I stayed with Momma because at the moment she needed me more than anything else. I heard the door opening seconds later and in seconds Dad was beside us. I put my hand in his and let him see what I knew. He wasted no time. He lifted Momma into his arms and I felt myself being lifted into the strong hands of Uncle Lester. Uncle Bobby was there as well. Dad headed for the door with the rest of us right behind him. We made it to the garage when I suddenly felt him. There was the smell of Christmas in the air.

Diesel opened the door for Dad and helped him to get Momma situated in the back. Dad climbed in beside her and Uncle Lester set me in back with them before getting into the driver's seat with Uncle Bobby in the front passenger seat. Diesel got in the back with us. In no time we were at the hospital and Momma was rushed to the ICU. I knew what the problem was and I tried to let everyone else know too. Dad said something to Uncle Bobby and he was talking to the doctor who just entered the room. Suddenly the door opened and I sensed Mathew was there. The nurse entered and told us we would all have to leave so the doctor could work. Uncle Diesel made her happy and she left without another word. A couple minutes later Tank entered the room with Lillie. I heard Dad ask him what was wrong and Tank shook his head and told Dad that Lillie insisted on coming.

I looked around and then I moved onto the bed beside Momma. Mathew and Lillie insisted on joining me. Once we were all in place, we took hands. Mathew and I on either side of Lillie because she was the weak link. Diesel came up behind us and placed a hand on my right shoulder and Mathew's left shoulder. We concentrated and sent our energy to Momma. I saw the problem and placed my hand on her head. I felt Katie's energy join ours and we fixed the problem. It didn't take long but it took an enormous amount of energy from all of us. I knew Katie would need more energy to make her appearance so before we slipped out I sent her a jolt of energy so she would have enough in reserves to be born tonight.

When we slipped out, I was exhausted. I saw Lillie and Mathew were fighting sleep as well. Diesel was drained but still had enough energy to make sure Momma was okay from here. I met his gaze and in my mind I heard him tell me he wouldn't let anything happen to Momma. I frowned and bit my lip. I narrowed my eyes and my gaze locked on his as I sent the thought, 'I think they created the condition.'

Diesel was beyond pissed. If it were true, they better watch out now. I lie down beside Momma and let myself sleep. I knew Diesel would keep watch till I had recharged my batteries. When I woke it was darker. Lillie and Mathew were gone. I looked around and saw Dad sitting beside Momma holding her hand and Diesel sitting behind me holding Momma's other hand. Diesel noticed my eyes were open. He smiled, 'Your Mom is going to be fine. I sent Lillie and Mathew home.'

I nodded. 'Why?'

Diesel's eyes narrowed, 'They mistakenly thought they could get control of you if your Mom wasn't around. There were two members who did this without the knowledge of the others. They are being held for now, and once this is over we'll address their actions.'

My rage was such that I was having trouble controlling it. I wanted to strike the two that had done this to my Momma. They didn't deserve their powers. I wanted them stripped and defenseless. I felt Diesel's hand on my shoulder and I got my rage under control. I placed my hand on Momma and she opened her eyes to look at me. She smiled and I returned the smile. I lay down beside her and turned so she wouldn't see the monster I could feel inside me. I sent out the thought, 'Never again will you hurt my Momma.'

I felt her hand on my head, "It's alright Rafael. I'm okay now."

I lifted my head and met her gaze, "You won't have to worry about them again Momma."

Just then there was a contraction and I smiled, "Katie's coming."

Momma nodded, "Katie is indeed coming."

For the next several hours Momma battled the contractions. In between times she rested as best she could. It was after 11:30 when the contractions were nearly continuous. When the doctor finally told Momma to push, I knew it would be soon. Finally, Momma gave one final push and the sound of a baby crying could be heard. I sat up and watched as Katie was wrapped in a blanket and laid on Momma's chest. I wrinkled my nose as I looked in on her. She was a mess. But I knew by the look in Momma's eyes that she was a beautiful sight to her. Dad wrapped his arms around Momma and whispered, "Proud of you Babe."

A nurse came over and took Katie to wash her up. Once she had been all cleaned up, she was returned to Momma. Katie let out a yell and Momma's gown slipped down to expose her breast. I laughed because I remembered doing that trick myself. I looked at my baby sister and smiled. There was a warm feeling of love surrounding all of us. When the door opened, I glanced up to see Bobby slip inside the room. He walked over and peeked down at Katie. Dad looked up at him and said, "Katriona Michelle Manoso has joined our family. You want to tell the others? She was born at 11:53 p.m. and she weighed in at 6 pounds 1 ounce and she's 20" long. She's perfect, just like her Mom."

Bobby grinned, "Congratulations Bomber." He leaned over and looked in on Katie. "Welcome aboard little girl. You're just as beautiful as your Momma."

Once Bobby had left the room, Diesel came over and placed a hand on Momma's head and his other hand on Katie's tiny head. "Long life to both of you. I promise you Stephanie, I will take care of things so this never happens again."

Momma looked at Diesel, "Be safe and come back to us."

Diesel grinned, "Always. You're my family."

There was a popping sound and Diesel was gone. I turned to where Momma lay holding Katie and asked, "So, what are we going to do next for excitement?"

Momma and Dad started laughing and I joined in.


	2. Katie Goes Home

**Disclaimer: The characters you recognize as J.E. are hers. Any other character is a figment of my imagination and any similarities to real persons is merely a coincidence**

This story is definitely AU. The characters have the same physical appearance as in J.E.'s books; however I have changed ages of some characters. This is a Babe HEA and Cupcake fans may not be happy as Joe is dead as are Frank and Helen Plum. The Plums as well as Joe are not portrayed favorably, they were bad characters in the original and references may be made in this story as to what their actions were in the original story. References may be made to any of the books in the series, so if you haven't read them all, you may want to wait to read this. That said…

Chapter 2: Katie Goes Home

Stephanie's POV:

I stepped out of the micro shower the hospital furnished in each bathroom and dried off. I slipped into my Victoria Secrets panty set and then slipped into my robe. I made my way out to the bedroom area of my room and let my gaze fall on my sleeping daughter. She was beautiful, and at the moment she was sound asleep. I bent and gently kissed her tiny forehead before making my way to the bed and slipping into the outfit Ranger had brought for me last night when he had come to visit and pick up Rafael for the night. I smiled as I managed to button my jeans. They were just a little snug but not uncomfortable. The t-shirt was one of the larger ones that would help to hide the roll of my tummy. I was thrilled I was able to get my socks and sneakers on all by myself once again. I brushed my hair back and put it in a ponytail. I added a touch of makeup and was ready.

Just then the door opened and Rafael ran to me. I knelt down and wrapped my arms around my little boy. Although Rafael had an enormous vocabulary for a five year old, we still continued to talk to each other in our minds rather than in spoken words. I felt his love enfold me and Katie the moment he entered the room. His gentle probing to make sure we were both okay brought a tear to my eye. I was furious that the others had allowed those two to do what they did. I intended to be at that next meeting to voice my outrage. Rafael put his small hand on my cheek and I turned to him. 'Don't worry Momma. I'm on it.'

I smiled at Rafael and ran my hand from the top of his head down to his cheek. I had so much love inside me for my darling little boy. I heard a gasp and turned to see my nurse had entered the room. She was staring at Rafael and me and there was a tear in her eye. "I'm sorry Mrs. Manoso, but there was such a radiant aura around you and your son I couldn't help but be moved. It was as if the whole room was filled with love."

I grinned, flicking my glance to her name plate before replying, "It's okay Clarice. I understand exactly what you mean."

I looked up and Ranger was looking down at Rafael and me. He held out his hand and I accepted it, letting him help me into a standing position. Clarice blushed and fanned herself with the papers in her hands before mumbling something and hurrying from the room. I turned to Ranger and we both chuckled. Ranger leaned down and our mouths met. I had an image of Rafael rolling his eyes and holding his hands over Katie's eyes as well. I could help but laugh and Ranger joined in. He gave me another peck before helping me to gather all our things and get ready to leave.

When Clarice returned to the room she was pushing a wheelchair and had my release papers in her hands. I signed the papers and Clarice grinned and waved her hand at the chair. I rolled my eyes but noticed Rafael looking longingly at the chair and I got an idea. I sat down in the chair and Ranger placed Katie in my arms. I turned to Rafael and winked. "Why don't you climb up here with us?"

Rafael's eyes lit up and I no longer minded the necessity of having to leave in the wheelchair. Ranger carried all our things as Clarice pushed the chair. When we got to the front entrance the Cayenne was sitting there with Hal standing beside it. When we exited the hospital he grinned and opened the back door. Ranger took Katie and carefully placed her in the car seat before lifting me in his arms and placing me on the seat beside her. Once we were situated Rafael and Ranger made their way around to the driver's side and Ranger helped Rafael up into the car. Hal got in the passenger seat and Ranger drove us to Rangeman. When he pulled into the garage I felt all the love surrounding us and welcoming us home.

Ranger helped me out and then removed Katie from her car seat. He handed her to me and wrapped his arm around my waist while Rafael moved to my other side. We made our way to the elevator as Hal stayed behind to grab the car seat and belongings. The elevator stopped on 5 and we exited to head to the conference room. When we entered the room I noticed all the guys were there. I looked up into Ranger's eyes as he smiled and looked down at Katie and me with so much love in his eyes. He glanced up at the men and announced, "Katriona Michelle Manoso has come home. She seems to like being called Katie best."

There were shouts of "Welcome home Katie!" and "Congratulations!" as well as each of the men calling out their service branches words, like "Semper fi". The men filed out and as they did each one of them put their hand on Katie's little head and said something more personal about her arrival. It was all I could do to hold the tears in. I noticed the newest member of the Rangeman family was standing back and looked a little anxious. I frowned, wondering why he seemed so hesitant. Caden had been working for Rangeman since just after I learned I was pregnant with Katie. He had proven himself trustworthy and I was puzzled by his actions.

I watched him from the corner of my eyes as I conversed with the rest of the guys as they gave us their well wishes. Finally, he seemed to be resigned to coming to join the rest of the men. He was the last one to stand before us and I wasn't the only one puzzled by his actions. Rafael had turned and his eyes were narrowed on the final Merry Man to wish us well. Even Ranger seemed to be aware of his wariness to interact. He seemed to take a deep breath and I knew the moment he placed his hand on Katie's head and they glowed that the man before us wasn't a normal mortal man. I felt Rafael's anger rise and Ranger's defenses go up. Before I could say anything I felt Katie in my mind reassuring us that all was okay.

I was amazed as I heard my daughter's voice for the first time in my mind, 'Thank you Caden.'

Caden looked ill at ease and for a moment looked like he was going to deny the need for thanks, but then he bowed, 'It was my honor.'

Caden turned to me and our eyes locked. Caden laid his palm against Katie's little head and whispered, "You are protected by the wings of all. No harm shall come to you."

Suddenly I knew who Caden was. My eyes widened, "I remember you. When Diesel came to me all those years ago, you came as well. When he saved me you are the one that allowed it to happen."

Caden nodded. "Yes. It saddens me that those I trusted tried to harm you. It will not happen again. You were given my protection then and now I claim all of you as mine to protect. There are those that are afraid because your child poses a threat to their beliefs. They have been made aware of the fact that I will not tolerate any harm to come your way. I have allowed Rafael's sanctions against those who tried to harm you and I have let all know I will sanction any other acts he uses to protect his family."

Just then there was a popping sound and Diesel joined us. When he saw who stood before us he knelt with respect and bowed his head. Caden motioned for Diesel to rise. I noticed the look Caden sent Diesel was one of love and pride. "You are satisfied with the sanctions."

Diesel nodded, "Yes. But I don't understand how."

Caden looked to Rafael, "You have a powerful grandson."

Rafael's eyes narrowed, "I only thought it."

Caden nodded, "Yes. You thought it and it was reality. This is why some of the elders have feared you since your birth. You have the power to strip them of what they are with a mere thought."

Rafael's look hardened, "I won't apologize for them. They tried to hurt my Momma. No one will hurt my Momma. But I will take care of my thoughts in future."

Caden bowed. I saw Diesel's shock at the action. Caden laid his hand on Rafael's head and although he said not a word we could all hear his thoughts. 'You are a worthy King.'

In the next moment Caden was gone and Diesel was looking like he'd been blindsided. Diesel turned to Rafael and shook his head. "You are one hell of an opponent little dude. I was ready to do what I had to in order to take them both down but when I found them, they had been stripped of everything. Apparently when you thought it, that's exactly what happened. And let me tell you, there were some pretty freaked elders."

Rafael frowned, "I won't be sorry about them. They wanted to take Momma and Katie from us and no one hurts my family. I need to learn how to control this though so I don't accidentally hurt someone."

Diesel looked at Ranger. "I'd say you have the best teachers in the world little dude, no one better than your own parents."

As we headed up to the penthouse, Diesel came with us. Once he was assured that Katie was resting comfortably he took a deep breath and turned to us with panic in his eyes. I grinned knowing exactly what he was going to tell us. I decided to help him out and asked, "So when is Lainey due?"

"Would you believe she kept it hidden from me? How could she do that? I didn't think that was possible. I mean I admit, Rafael told me the first time but the minute I went home, I knew. I could actually sense Mathew. So how could she keep it from me this time?"

Rafael chuckled and Diesel sent him a glare. "Glad I could amuse you little dude."

Rafael grinned, "Mathew remembers what it was like before he was born." Rafael rolled his eyes before narrowing them and connecting with someone. After a moment he turned to Diesel and said, "Baby 2 didn't want any more chaos than necessary. Especially since Christmas is coming up and Mathew's birthday is in a few days."

Diesel put his head in his hands and groaned, "Oh man!"

I was biting my lip not to break out laughing. From the shaking of Ranger's shoulders I would say he already lost the fight to not laugh. One thing we learned from the last time Lainey was pregnant is that just because you're an unmentionable, doesn't mean you can't have a major meltdown. Poor Lainey had to call Hal to come take her to the hospital because Diesel had done something no unmentionable had ever done before. When Lainey's water broke he fainted. So not only did Hal have to drive Lainey to the hospital, he'd had to load Diesel into the SUV so when he came to he'd be able to be with Lainey.

Suddenly Diesel looked like a deer in headlights and paled. There was a popping sound and he disappeared. I wasn't sure he was the one doing the popping. My suspicion was confirmed when Rafael started laughing and he turned his dancing eyes up to us. "Momma, how do you think Diesel is going to handle knowing Lainey is going to have two babies and not just one? Oh, and they can pop him back to them whenever they want."

Ranger and I looked at each other and burst out laughing.


	3. The Chosen One

**Disclaimer: The characters you recognize as J.E. are hers. Any other character is a figment of my imagination and any similarities to real persons is merely a coincidence**

This story is definitely AU. The characters have the same physical appearance as in J.E.'s books; however I have changed ages of some characters. This is a Babe HEA and Cupcake fans may not be happy as Joe is dead as are Frank and Helen Plum. The Plums as well as Joe are not portrayed favorably, they were bad characters in the original and references may be made in this story as to what their actions were in the original story. References may be made to any of the books in the series, so if you haven't read them all, you may want to wait to read this. That said…

Chapter 3: The Chosen One

I made sure Stephanie and the children were settled in the apartment and then I headed down to my office. I needed to finish up payroll and then I would be free for the afternoon. Thanks to the program Stephanie had put into place three years ago, payroll was now a piece of cake instead of the tedious chore it had been before. An hour later I sat back in my chair and leaned my head against the back of the chair. I closed my eyes and let my mind wander to the events of the past few days.

I still got a knot in my chest when I remembered how I felt when Rafael's SOS reached me the day Katie was born. I had never been so scared in all my life. In those moments I knew I was close to losing the most important person in my life. I clenched my hands into fists. For some reason I had a feeling that everything wasn't over, even though Caden had assured us we were under his protection. I narrowed my eyes and wondered how I could protect my family against them when I wouldn't even see them till they were ready to act. Suddenly I felt the need to turn on the computer. I booted it up and let my hands rest on the keys for a moment and then I started typing.

Two hours later I sat back at looked at what I had found. I printed out the information and decided I was going to take it up to 7 with me to let Stephanie and Rafael in on what I had found out. I wanted to protect them from these people, but in this case, they would need to know what was going on if I was to keep them safe. I knew Diesel would need to be read in on this as well. I made sure I had everything I had printed out and then shut down my computer. I stood and made my way through the fifth floor and took the stairs up to the apartment. I used my key to open the door and silently made my way through the apartment. I knew they were in the den and I made my way there. I paused at the door to watch them.

As I watched, Stephanie sat on the sofa reading Twas The Night Before Christmas to Rafael. When she reached the end of the story, I watched as she closed the book and set it on the coffee table. Without turning around she said, "Might as well come in and show us what you have."

I smiled and moved forward. "No putting anything over on you is there Babe?"

Stephanie shrugged, "Something was off earlier. I can't say exactly what yet, but Caden wasn't as strong as he has been."

Rafael turned with a serious expression on his face. "He's dying. Once he's gone, the throne will be up for grabs. Until a new King is named, anyone will have the opportunity to claim the throne. All they have to do is take out the one Caden has chosen as his successor."

I lifted an eyebrow, "Do they know who Caden has chosen?"

Rafael shook his head. "They're scrambling." His gaze went to Stephanie, "I think that's why those two tried to kill Momma and Katie."

I handed Stephanie the information I had found. "I realize this is folk lore, but fact is often hidden in fiction."

Stephanie stiffened as she looked at the papers I had handed her, "Shit! Do you know what you've found?"

I gave her a puzzled look, "Somewhat. But I knew you would have a better grasp than I would."

"Come sit beside me so I can clue you in as I read."

I moved around the sofa and positioned myself so I had Stephanie in my arms. I felt the warm touch as she slipped into my mind and we connected as she read the report I had brought. I have to say it made a hell of a lot of sense with her input. When she finished, she tossed the papers on the coffee table and sighed. I rested my chin on the top of her head and asked, "So what's next Babe?"

"We have to let Diesel know. He and his family are in danger as well."

"I think you'd be better equipped to handle that than I would Babe."

Stephanie turned to Rafael and held out her hand. I watched as my son placed his small hand into his mother's and the two of them closed their eyes and tilted their heads back. I felt the warmth of them surround me and then there was a popping sound and the unmistakable scent of cinnamon was in the air. Diesel was standing before us frowning, his hands on his hips and a 'What the fuck?' look on his face.

Stephanie smiled, "Sorry Diesel. We have some information we need to share with you."

"What's this shit with popping me in and out. How the hell did you two acquire that ability?"

Rafael shrugged, "I did the popping and Momma did the focusing."

"Well what's so important it couldn't wait for you to go through normal channels?"

Stephanie handed Diesel the papers and we waited while he quickly read them. When he finished it looked like there was steam coming from his ears. He tossed the papers onto the coffee table and growled. "That explains why Caden had to be close in order to protect you. Even then they managed to get through." Diesel's gaze went to Rafael, "It's my guess they think Rafael is the chosen one."

I watched my son's eyes light up and he turned to us, "That's why he said it. Earlier today when he laid his hand on my head I heard him in my mind. He said, 'You are a worthy King.' It was his way of telling me I am the chosen one."

Diesel nodded. "I think so too."

Stephanie frowned, "But Rafael isn't unmentionable."

I narrowed my eyes as a sudden thought occurred to me. "He isn't unmentionable. But he has the power to strip an unmentionable of their power with a thought. To them, he's far more powerful than they could hope to be. In the end, isn't that the kind of ruler you want for your people? Someone who has the power to strengthen them."

We all looked to Rafael and he met our gazes head on. Rafael looked thoughtful for a moment and then turned and wrinkled his nose. "It's going to be a long month. The new King is to be crowned on New Year's Eve. There are several factions who want control."

Stephanie laid a hand on Rafael's head, "I for one have no intention of letting anyone harm my son."

Rafael turned his gaze up to his mom and there was a twinkle in his eyes. "Don't worry Momma. The Three Musketeers are going to ride on this one. When we get done with them, they won't know what hit them."

I smiled as Stephanie grinned down at Rafael and kissed his forehead. "All for one and one for all."

I could swear I heard the sound of Mathew and Lillie giggling along with Rafael as I heard, 'Fucking A dude. Those dirt bags won't know what hit them.' from Lilli and then I heard, 'By the time we get done with them they'll be begging.' from Mathew.

I turned to Diesel and Stephanie and the three of us exchanged an '_Oh SHIT!_' look. I think our lives just got infinitely more complicated. There were sounds of children laughing.


	4. A New Protector

**Disclaimer: The characters you recognize as J.E. are hers. Any other character is a figment of my imagination and any similarities to real persons is merely a coincidence**

This story is definitely AU. The characters have the same physical appearance as in J.E.'s books; however I have changed ages of some characters. This is a Babe HEA and Cupcake fans may not be happy as Joe is dead as are Frank and Helen Plum. The Plums as well as Joe are not portrayed favorably, they were bad characters in the original and references may be made in this story as to what their actions were in the original story. References may be made to any of the books in the series, so if you haven't read them all, you may want to wait to read this. That said…

Chapter 4: A New Protector

Rafael's POV:

Today Katie had officially been home for a week, even though she was born on December 1st and spent three days in the hospital with Momma and came home on the 4th. It was now 2 days till Mathew's 4th birthday. Momma was going to take me shopping for a birthday present for Mathew while Ella stayed with Katie. I knew exactly what I wanted to get him. The only question is whether Momma would agree with my idea. I was looking forward to going for another reason though too. Aunt Lula and Lillie were going to join us. I had made sure that Lillie knew we had to be on the alert while we were out. We would have Vince and Ram with us today watching Momma's back from human harm. Lillie and I had to be on the alert for unmentionables.

I had just finished getting ready to go out and headed towards the kitchen where I knew Momma was talking with Ella. Ella looked thrilled at the chance to watch Katie while we were out. As I walked towards them I had a sudden thought and narrowed my eyes. I sent out the thought, 'No one will hurt Katie or Ella.' I noticed a white glow around them and was satisfied they would be safe till we got back. There had been two attempts since Momma had come home with Katie. I had felt them trying to storm the building and had sent them away. I looked around the apartment and when I was sure I had shorn up the defenses of the building I made my way towards Momma and Ella.

Momma bent and kissed Katie's tiny head and told Ella we'd be home sometimes before 4 p.m. and then she held out her hand to me and grinned. I smiled back at her and slipped my hand inside hers. We made our way down to the garage where Vince and Ram were waiting for us. Momma and I got in the back of the SUV Vince had pulled up to the door and then we were on our way. We arrived at Pino's and the guys helped us out and then we headed inside. Momma picked the booth at the back that Dad always chose and we slipped into the booth with Vince and Ram taking up the end seats. We had only been there a couple minutes when Aunt Lula and Lillie walked in and made their way over to where we were. Our waitress came over and we all ordered.

We were waiting for our food to come when Lillie spoke up. "Mom and I gots lots of smokin' ideas for my man Matt's party gift."

Aunt Lula grinned at Lillie and said, "We shore do."

Momma smiled at Lillie and asked, "And just what are these ideas you two have come up with?"

Lillie's eyes lit up and she grinned, "Well, we are gonna get somfin small sos we can wrap it lots a times and he won't know what it really is till he gets ta the last damn wrappin'."

Momma looked gently at Lillie and said, "That's a great idea Lillie. I can't wait to watch him open the gift."

Lillie beamed, "Oh Auntie Steph, it's gonna knock his socks off."

About then our food arrived and we dug in. I moaned at my first bite of pizza and saw Lillie's eyes glaze over for some odd reason. When Momma took her first bite, Uncle Ram and Uncle Vince started squirming in their seats and they were readjusting their cargos. When we finished eating we headed for the Quaker Bridge Mall where we would find the perfect gifts. Sure enough, two hours later we all had our shopping done and were headed back to our cars. We said goodbye to Aunt Lula and Lillie and then we all headed back to Rangeman.

When we pulled into the garage I felt it. They were coming. I searched for their point of attack and after a moment I knew exactly who they were going for. My eyes narrowed and I thought, 'Like hell you will. Not on my watch!'

I sensed Momma was beside me as I headed up to the 5th floor. I sent a message to Grandma Ella and had her bring Katie to 5 as well. We exited the stairwell on 5 at the same time the elevator opened and Ella was there with Katie held protectively in her arms. Dad came out of his office and his gaze was searching. Once he found Momma he settled. When our eyes locked he relaxed even more. Dad stalked over till he was standing with his arms around Momma and Katie and I were protectively close by.

There was a popping sound and then a dark figure stood there facing us. Momma recognized him and I heard her telling Diesel the Wulf was there. There was another popping sound and the smell of cinnamon was in the air. Diesel was standing between Wulf and us. I narrowed my eyes as I watched the play between the two of them. There was a sizzle in the air and I stepped forward.

"Why are you here?"

Wulf turned to me and sneered, "You are just a child. Why are they afraid of you?"

Lightening split the air and struck within inches of Wulf. He didn't flinch or move. His eyes narrowed and he nodded, "I guess that answers my question."

Diesel took a step closer to Wulf. "Why are you here cousin?"

Wulf shook his head, "Always putting your nose where it doesn't belong aren't you cousin?"

I took another step forward and my gaze locked on Wulf's. "Answer the question."

Wulf turned to me and smiled. He narrowed his gaze on me. "Caden can no longer protect you. He's put a target on your back and every unscrupulous unmentionable will be out to destroy not just you, but your whole family as well."

I continued to hold his gaze. I was aware of Diesel taking up a protective posture but something told me it was unnecessary. I continued to stare at Wulf and asked, "Are you here to take your shot?"

Wulf's eyes hooded. "No. I don't want the role of King. I like being a bad boy when it suits me. But then you already know I'm here to protect…don't you?"

"Unmentionables don't age as normal humans do." At that moment the elevator doors opened and Lula and Lillie stepped off the elevator and Lillie ran forward till she was standing toe to toe with Wulf. The look on his face told me I was right. I knew the day he had seen Lillie for the first time last year, that he would forever be her protector.

"You best not be hurtin' Rafe. I don't be takin' that bus mista."

Wulf bowed, "I have no intention of hurting your young friend Lillie. As a matter of fact I have come to offer my assistance."

"You here to help us then?"

"Yes ma'am."

Lillie's smile lit the room and the look on Wulf's face was all the explanation necessary. Just then there was a massive surge and the entire building shook as if it were being bombarded by an entire group of unmentionables. Momma and Dad came to stand with us and I harnessed all the energy to rebuff the assault. Lightening split the air and suddenly there were screams. I felt the rage directed my way. I waved my hand and suddenly the building was still and there was no more attack. I was able to get a hint of what they were planning and I sent Diesel home to help Mathew and the girls to stop the attack headed their way. I reached out and touched Wulf. I looked up into his eyes and said, "They will be easy to find because they have all been marked. You above all will recognize the mark."

Wulf's eyes narrowed. "You gave them my mark."

I nodded. "They will be easy to spot when they come back."

Wulf's eyes twinkled. He nodded. "I shall keep a lookout for them."

There was a popping sound and Wulf disappeared. I reached out to Diesel and was assured that they were all safe as well. I smiled. For now we had stopped the attack. They would need to rest and re-coop before coming at us again. At a guess I was thinking they would assemble in mass and come at us during Mathew's birthday party. My eyes narrowed and I couldn't help thinking they'd quit now if they knew what was good for them. Unfortunately this group was not the brightest bunch of crayons in the box. I had two days to plan. I intended to be ready. We had an added ally on our side now. I'll bet they were all smarting right now from that mark of Wulf's.

I turned my gaze up to Momma and smiled, "Don't worry. We will all be safe."

Momma smiled down at me and nodded. "There are still 20 days left till New Year's Eve though."

I grinned up at her. "I got it covered Momma."


	5. Mathew's Birthday

**Disclaimer: The characters you recognize as J.E. are hers. Any other character is a figment of my imagination and any similarities to real persons is merely a coincidence**

This story is definitely AU. The characters have the same physical appearance as in J.E.'s books; however I have changed ages of some characters. This is a Babe HEA and Cupcake fans may not be happy as Joe is dead as are Frank and Helen Plum. The Plums as well as Joe are not portrayed favorably, they were bad characters in the original and references may be made in this story as to what their actions were in the original story. References may be made to any of the books in the series, so if you haven't read them all, you may want to wait to read this. That said…

_I am so sorry folks. I have had migraine type headaches this week and it's taken me longer than I wanted to get this chapter done. I will try very hard to get another one done before midnight central time._

Chapter 5: December 13th…Mathew's Birthday

Rafael's POV:

I had my best kick ass outfit on and had everything ready for the party. Today Mathew turned 4 years old and we were going to his house to party. Uncle Hal was traveling with us and Uncle Tank and Aunt Lula would take another vehicle with Lillie, plus Uncle Lester and Uncle Bobby would be coming with as well. If shit happened today we were ready. I grabbed the gift Momma had let me get Mathew. I knew he would be thrilled at the 15th century dagger that I had found. Mathew was into ancient weapons. I had a feeling when he grew up he was going to be a warrior. I made my way out to the den where Dad was sitting on the sofa holding Katie in his arms.

Without turning Dad asked, "You ready to go?"

"I'm good to go. We waiting on Momma?"

"She'll be ready in a few minutes."

I climbed up beside him and looked at my sleeping sister. She was such a beauty. Just like Momma. I smiled and placed my hand on her tiny head. Dad glanced at me and I saw the pride in his eyes. We sat there for several seconds before there was an overwhelming feeling of love directed our way. I turned and saw Momma standing there. She was a vision of beauty.

Momma smiled and asked, "You guys ready to go?"

I climbed off the sofa and Dad stood with Katie in his arms. We made our way to the elevator and headed down to the garage. As I followed Momma and Dad to the Cayenne, I felt the others trying to breach the walls of the Rangeman building. My eyelids drooped and I thought, 'This building and its occupants shall be safe from harm. You will not get in.' My eyes opened and I hurried to scramble into the back seat. In no time we were on our way to Mathew's house.

It took us about 20 minutes to reach Grandpa Diesel's home. Once there we parked and once everyone was ready we climbed out and made our way to the front door as a group. Diesel had the front door opened and we all made our way inside. I wasn't surprised to see Wulf bringing up the rear of our group. There was a look in his eyes and as they met Diesel's there was unspoken communication. My eyes narrowed and I turned as something hit the side of the house. The twinkle in Mathew's eyes told me he was having fun. I made my way over to him and we did our complicated hand shake. Lillie joined us and there was a twinkle in her eyes as well.

I set my gift for Mathew on the table with the other gifts and the three of us headed for the game room. The adults would be with us soon but they had some talking to do first. Thing is, so did we. Once we got to the game room we huddled in our planning corner. Whenever Lillie and I were at Mathew's house, this was our favorite spot. We didn't need to write down our ideas. Once we shared them we would remember them.

Ever since the night Katie had been born, I knew there was always danger near. I had felt them trying to gain entry. The three of us were planning a few surprises the next time these assholes came after us.

I felt the gentle scolding and lifted my head. Uh oh! 'Sorry Momma. I'll clean up the language.'

'Thank you.'

I turned to Lillie and Mathew and they were grinning ear to ear. I rolled my eyes and we went right back to planning. By the time the adults joined us we had a pretty good plan in mind. We played a few games while the adults watched and talked. It was a lot of fun. The three of us were pretty self-sufficient in amusing ourselves. We didn't need lots of friends because we had each other. Of course the adults were always wanting to introduce us to other children our own ages. Something about wanting us to enjoy our childhood. I glanced over to where Hal was sitting and talking with Lainey. They both seemed so happy. Suddenly Lainey stiffened and looked alarmed. My eyes narrowed and I looked for a reason. I sensed Mathew was doing the same and from the glow coming off him he was pretty pissed that someone had tried to hurt his Mom and sisters.

The house shook and the three of us stood. We had the culprits in our scope and they were going down. We clasped hands and focused. The wind blew and it was as if there was a vacuum sucking all the air out of the room. I felt Katie struggle a moment and then I felt Momma's presence behind me with her hand on my shoulder and I knew Diesel and Wulf were there as well. The vacuum stopped and I saw the flames in Mathew's eye. There were screams of pain and then I reached my free hand up to Wulf and I knew we would be able to identify all those that had just tried to harm Lainey and the twins.

I knew they were gone and I also knew we were safe for the rest of the day. They would need time to regroup and recover from their injuries. I moved over to the wall and placed my hand on the wall. I closed my eyes and protected the house from what was to come. They wouldn't get through. Lainey and the twins would be protected.

We didn't talk much about what had just happened. We went back to where the gifts were and Mathew got to unwrap his presents. When he unwrapped the dagger there was a white light that fell on Mathew and the dagger. I had a vision of what was to come and I smiled knowing Mathew would be thrilled. Once he had opened all his gifts, we headed to the table where we had cake and ice cream. We had a great time and the party went on for a couple more hours before it was time for us to leave.

As we were getting ready, I felt a shifting in the air and knew there would be a new development soon. I said goodbye to my friend and we headed out to the Cayenne. I was quiet on the way home. There was a lot I had to think about. Dad drove us back to Haywood and he and Hal spoke quietly up in the front while Momma and I sat back and let our thoughts roam. We were nearly to Rangeman when I felt a tiny nudge from Katie and turned to her. Our eyes met and I saw what she was telling me. I smiled at her and thought, 'Don't worry little sis. I won't let him hurt us. But it might be a good idea to let him in and keep an eye on him. There's a saying about keeping your friends close and your enemies closer.'

I felt warm suddenly as I felt Katie surround me with her trust. I reached out and touched her tiny cheek. 'Don't worry little sis. I'll protect us all.'

I looked up at Momma and saw her watching the two of us with a smile on her face. Dad pulled into the garage and parked. He helped Momma out and then took Katie out of the car seat. Hal helped me out on the other side of the car and we all walked over to the elevator. I knew I would need to talk to Dad before he went to bed because he would be up before me and would be going down to welcome the men coming in tomorrow. He needed to know before he went down to 5. I knew I could shield his thoughts from them and it would be okay to let him in on this.

Hal took the stairs so the elevator didn't stop till we were on 7. Momma took Katie from Dad so she could take her and get her ready for bed. Once they were out of the room I turned to Dad. "We need to talk about the three guys coming in tomorrow."

Dad nodded and led the way into the den. We sat on the sofa and he turned to me with his full attention. "What is it son?"

"One of the men coming tomorrow isn't what he pretends to be."

Dad frowned, "Which one?"

I hesitated, "I know you aren't going to want to hire him, but I think you should. Remember the saying about keeping your friends close and your enemies closer?"

Dad nodded, "I was planning on hiring all three if they panned out. Tell me what you know and I'll make sure I hire him and keep him with the core team."

I got up on my knees and placed my hands on either side of Dad's head. I let him see what I knew and at the same time I placed a shield around him so he wouldn't be harmed. Once I was satisfied I kissed his cheek and said, "Goodnight Dad. I'll see you sometime tomorrow. I want to spend some time with Lillie tomorrow before coming down."

Dad pulled me close and hugged me. "Love you son. Proud of you as always."


	6. A Judas Among Us

**Disclaimer: The characters you recognize as J.E. are hers. Any other character is a figment of my imagination and any similarities to real persons is merely a coincidence**

This story is definitely AU. The characters have the same physical appearance as in J.E.'s books; however I have changed ages of some characters. This is a Babe HEA and Cupcake fans may not be happy as Joe is dead as are Frank and Helen Plum. The Plums as well as Joe are not portrayed favorably, they were bad characters in the original and references may be made in this story as to what their actions were in the original story. References may be made to any of the books in the series, so if you haven't read them all, you may want to wait to read this. That said…

_On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me,_

Chapter 6: A Judas Among Us

Ranger's POV:

I slipped from the bed at 5 a.m. and pulled on my work out gear. I turned and watched Babe sleeping for several moments and then I narrowed my eyes and clenched my hands into fists. I knew Rafael was right that we needed to keep this bastard close. I knew I couldn't tell the men why I wanted them to shadow our new hire so to make it look on the up and up I intended to partner each of the three new men with one of the core team. I smiled, letting the monster inside see daylight and knew just who I was going to partner him with. Once this was over I knew Tank, Bobby and Lester would be okay with the way things played out.

I leaned over and kissed Babe on the cheek and as I straightened I ran my forefinger down her cheek. She didn't wake and I smiled as I thought about all the changes that had taken place over the past four years. When I first met Stephanie she was every bit into fitness as I was. She still was, but motherhood had tempered her. She no longer needed to get up before dawn every morning and exercise. Oh she still had her early mornings…but she enjoyed those sleep in mornings as well. She had done a wonderful job of juggling being a wife and mother along with working three days a week at Vinnie's and two days at Rangeman. That is until she had felt comfortable in letting Lula take over the Bounty Hunter job at Vinnie's and agreed to come on at Rangeman full time 18 months ago. I had put her in charge of the training the guys went through. She excelled at developing games not only for my men but for each branch of the service as well.

I turned and made my way out of the room and headed towards the stairwell. As I took the stairs down to the gym I continued to go over the changes of the past four years. We saw no reason to rush in having Rafael go to public school. As a matter of fact we had seriously thought out all our options before deciding to home school Rafael. I was looking forward to the reaction of The Battleax as everyone called her. Since we weren't obligated to send Rafael to kindergarten and he didn't have to start school until he was 6, I was wondering what the Battleax's reaction would be next year when we chose not to send our son to the public school. I couldn't help the grin that found its way to my face as I thought of the run in Stephanie had with her two years ago when Eddie Jr. had gotten expelled for something he didn't do.

There had been a major incident at the school and a couple older boys put the blame on Eddie Jr. because their little brother lost out in a contest to him. When Eddie Jr. called Stephanie and asked her to come to the school, my Babe took Rafael with her and went and not only was Eddie Jr. allowed back in school but the two boys responsible were carted off in a police car because they were over 18 and had committed a felony. The Battleax had looked at Babe scathingly and told her she looked forward to getting a hold of her child when it was time for him to go to school and teaching him some manners. I chuckled as I remembered what Rafael had shared with me about his Momma stepping toe to toe with the battleax and telling her she wasn't getting near her children and Rafael had all the manners he needed. Then Babe turned to Eddie Jr. and told him he could go back to class and if anyone gave him any trouble to give her another call and she'd make sure Uncle Joe Juniak came down to look into things as well. Fortunately for the school there had been no further incidents.

I opened the stairwell door and made my way through the gym doors and headed for my usual workout spot. I noticed Tank, Bobby and Lester were already in there working out and I joined them momentarily. I made sure my voice was low so as not to be overheard and told them, "I'm going to assign you three as shadows to our new hires this time around. I want you to treat it as normal operating procedure."

I got three nods and I continued on to start my warm up exercises. After doing my preliminary stretches I got on the treadmill and did a quick 10 mile run before heading to the weight machines. Tank made his way over and spotted me as I worked the weight machines and I returned the favor for him. When we had both had enough we hit the showers and cleaned up for the day ahead. I pulled one of my Rangeman outfits out of my locker and then headed for the stairs. Tank, Bobby and Lester were right behind me because it was time to meet our new recruits. We stepped out of the stairwell on 5 and headed for the break room to grab a bite of breakfast.

Ella was in the room and smiled as the four of us entered. "I knew you would be here soon. I made the four of you a special breakfast."

I kissed Ella's cheek and thanked her before grabbing a seat. The rest of the guys pulled up three of the remaining chairs and Ella served each of us a plate of our favorite breakfasts. I had lox and bagels, Tank had three breakfast burritos, Bobby had a couple of breakfast veggie wraps and Lester had a couple breakfast sandwiches. Once we had finished eating we had another hour before the new guys would be here. I left to head to my office and get some work done. They each headed out as well.

I didn't get much work done. My thoughts were on my Babe and the children. We'd dealt with three stalkers over the past four years. The first one when Rafael was 18 months old. It took us nearly three weeks to discover just who it was and what had attracted him. The second stalker occurred 8 months later and took nearly five weeks to run to ground. The last one occurred nearly 15 months ago and he'd actually managed to grab Babe and Rafael when they were out shopping. Of course that was the biggest mistake of his life because Rafael was rougher on the bad guys then I could ever hope to be. By the time the guys and I had arrived 3 hours after they had been taken the stalker was hanging by his ankles screaming at the top of his lungs.

When Babe told us she was going to have another baby, both Rafael and I were thrilled. We looked forward to welcoming a new addition. Rafael had known he would have a sister from the first. He was very protective of his mother. He had grown stronger each year and although some might fear him because of his abilities, I had nothing but love and trust for my son. Although Babe was in a unique position to understand our son, she was often stunned by the pace at which he grew, often commenting he was a much quicker study than she had been. It was amazing watching Rafael, Mathew and Lillie. They were truly the three musketeers and were often found in the thick of things. Babe and I were thrilled with our son. Now that we had a daughter as well we couldn't be happier.

It was closer to 70 minutes later when Tank knocked on my office door to let me know the guys had arrived. I stood and made my way towards the floor where the new hires were going to be vetted. The minute I left my office I felt it. All three men turned to me and although they all looked respectful, I felt the vibes of animosity from one of them. I held out my hand and shook hands with each of them as I introduced myself. "Hello. I'm Ranger Manoso. Just call me Ranger."

The first guy stood 6'4" tall and weighed in at about 250 pounds of solid muscle. He had brown eyes, brown hair and was a cross in skin tone between Tank and Bobby. He nodded to me and smiled. "Nice meeting you sir. My name is Derry Tallman. Everyone just calls me Derry."

"Derry. You were in the Navy Seals for ten years before opting out. Mind my asking what made you decide to opt out?"

Derry shrugged, "There's no secret in that. The last mission I was on I took several rounds and although I'm back to 100% of normal, I'm no longer considered Seal material. Rather than accept a desk job I opted out. I know your reputation Sir and I knew I'd get treated fair here."

I nodded. "You passed the physical and all the other criteria to get here. I see no problem with you being able to do the work we do."

Derry smiled and stepped back so the second man could step forward. He was about an inch taller than I was and had about 20 pounds on me. He had blonde hair and blue eyes, tanned and looked like the guy next door or somebodies best friend. He smiled and held out his hand. I shook it and he offered his name. "I'm Samuel Dugger. Everyone calls me Sam."

I nodded to him. "You were in the Army Rangers?"

Sam nodded. "Yes. Fifteen years. I decided to get out after my last tour and when I started asking around your name was mentioned."

"What made you decide to get out?"

Sam shrugged, "It was time. No other reason."

I folded my arms across my chest and stared at him. He met my gaze and held it. Finally I moved to the third man and he nodded to me. "I'm Philip Miners. Everyone calls me Philip."

"You were in the Marines for eight years before deciding to leave. What made you opt out?"

"I had a rough couple of missions and felt like I needed to get out if I wanted to live. The idiot in charge nearly got us killed. Then the powers that be gave him another shot at it and he nearly got us killed again. That was enough for me."

I nodded. "Alright men. Welcome aboard Rangeman. We are starting a new training method and so for the first month you will be paired with a member of the core team. You'll have the same days off and work the same shift as your partner. Derry, you'll partner Bobby. Sam, you'll partner Lester. That means you will partner Tank, Phil."

I knew I was pushing buttons when I called Philip by the nickname of Phil. His face turned a slight shade of red but he remained silent. I watched as my three friends each took their new partner and headed out. I had just turned to go back into my office when I felt a gentle probing. I smiled and winked. 'I'm just fine son. Don't worry. The Judas is among us.'

_Sorry I didn't make it by midnight central time but here it is. There are three suspects as to who the Judas is. Anyone want to take a guess? There will be another chapter before the day is out because there is a story within a story as I will be doing the twelve days of Christmas._

_I also want to take this moment to ask everyone to keep the people of Newtown, CT in your thoughts and prayers as they try to deal with a nightmare that is beyond comprehension._


	7. Two Skips a Chasing

**Disclaimer: The characters you recognize as J.E. are hers. Any other character is a figment of my imagination and any similarities to real persons is merely a coincidence**

This story is definitely AU. The characters have the same physical appearance as in J.E.'s books; however I have changed ages of some characters. This is a Babe HEA and Cupcake fans may not be happy as Joe is dead as are Frank and Helen Plum. The Plums as well as Joe are not portrayed favorably, they were bad characters in the original and references may be made in this story as to what their actions were in the original story. References may be made to any of the books in the series, so if you haven't read them all, you may want to wait to read this. That said…

_On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
A Judas Among Us.  
On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me,_

Chapter 7: Two Skips a Chasing

Lester's POV:

I woke up early so I could have some alone time in the gym before my new recruit would join me for our shift. I wasn't looking forward to this but Ranger said it was necessary and like a good soldier, when your C.O. gives you an order, you follow. I pulled on my gym clothes and grabbed a change of clothes for the day as well as my weapons. I headed for the stairs and made my way down to the gym. After a serious workout, I grabbed a shower and got dressed. I headed for the stairs to make my way up to 5 when I noticed Tank enter the gym with Philip. I grinned at the disgruntled look on Phil's face. I couldn't wait to see how he was gonna get on with Tank. Before I got to the door I noticed Bobby and Derry entering. I frowned. The only one missing was Sam. He'd learn soon enough in order to stay on top here he'd need to exercise and hone what skills he had.

I exited onto 5 and headed for the break room. I took stock of what Ella had left for us today and smiled as I saw my favorite muffins. I grabbed a couple and headed for the table. I closed my eyes and savored the muffins as I bit into them. I managed to finish my breakfast before anyone came in and stood to throw my trash away. I headed for the Control Room so I could find out my assignment for the day. I was hoping to be able to go after skips today so I could use up some of this aggression I was feeling. Ever since Katie came home, when we learned the unmentionables were coming our way I had been spoiling for a fight. I smiled. We had some surprises up our sleeves when they came. I cleared my mind as Rafael had showed me and let my mind cover my thoughts.

When I saw the assignment sheet I smiled. I stiffened at the voice behind me asking, "What's got you in good spirits?"

I turned to Sam and grinned. "Looks like you and me get to bring in a couple of skips today."

Sam's eyes took on a disdaining look and I could hear him sigh. "Don't know why we waste our time. I'm sure there are more important things we could be doing."

I shrugged, "Perhaps. But it's fun."

Sam shook his head. "I see nothing fun about it. I can't see Manoso reaping much in the way of rewards from returning common criminals to jail."

My eyes narrowed and I spoke with a bite to my tone, "It's not your place to second guess Ranger. Just so we have this straight, as long as we're partners you will show Ranger the respect he is due or you and I will have problems."

I watched as Sam watched me silently for several seconds before he hooded his eyes and smiled, bowing and saying, "As you wish."

I gave an abrupt nod and turned, heading towards the stairwell. I knew without turning around that Sam was behind me. I headed to my work vehicle and climbed behind the wheel, waiting for my new recruit to join me. Once he was in the SUV I put it in gear and pulled out of the garage. We headed for the bonds office and I was lucky enough to find a spot in front of the door. I climbed out and went inside, knowing junior wasn't far behind. I smiled at Connie and leaned down to kiss her cheek as I asked, "Got anything for me today?"

Connie grinned and nodded. "Sure do. I got two skips that need to be returned to the justice system. One's a real bad ass…or at least he thinks he is."

I winked at her. "Don't worry. I always get my man." I paused and took a good look at Connie. Suddenly I raised an eyebrow and said, "When's the baby due?"

Connie laughed and said, "No puttin' one over on you is there? We're expecting the baby to put in a Memorial Day appearance."

"Congratulations. I take it Tom knows?"

Connie swatted at me, "Of course he knows. Who do you think helped me get this way?"

I grinned and replied, "Just checking. Can I tell people?"

Connie rolled her eyes and said, "I wouldn't have told you if I didn't want people to know. But you best make sure Steph is one of the first ones you tell."

I grinned and nodded. We headed back to the SUV and I opened the first file and took a look at our first skip. I planned out our best approach in my head and then handed the file to my partner. "What would you do?"

I watched as Sam looked over the file and then his eyes gleamed and he said, "Our best bet would be to set up a distraction at the club where he goes each night. Didn't I hear that Manoso's woman does distractions? I think I'd like to see that."

I couldn't believe this piece of shit. He was still disrespecting Ranger and I didn't like the look in his eyes when he talked about Beautiful. I guess he needed teaching. I smiled as I thought about how I was going to let that happen. I flicked my glance his way and said, "Stephanie just had a baby. She won't be available for distractions for several months. It's just the two of us and we are picking him up now."

Sam rolled his eyes and sighed, "Then we have no choice but to go to his home."

I grinned. "Just for that I'll let you take the front and I'll take the back."

Sam shrugged, "Whatever."

I drove us to the skips house. Sandy Bondell was a 6'5", 300 pound killer. He had murdered his wife and when no one else would bond him out, Vinnie agreed. I parked in front of the house and climbed out of the car. I looked at my partner and said, "Give me 5 minutes to get in back and then knock on the front door."

I had barely started around to the back when I heard Sam knocking on the front door. Damn! Doesn't that idiot listen to orders? I hurried to the back and managed to get myself into position just in time to see the back door open and our skip try to quietly sneak out the back. Just as I'm about to cuff him, Sam calls out, "Hey Lester! Is he coming out the back door?"

Sandy spun around and I had no choice so I jabbed him in the throat to knock him out and managed to get him cuffed. No doubt about it…I was officially pissed! By this time Sandy was starting to come around and I hauled him up and frog marched him around the side of the house. When Sam saw us there was a momentary look in his eyes like he was disappointed. I didn't bother to say anything to him but took the skip to the SUV and shackled him in before climbing in myself and starting the engine. I made no concessions for Sam and pulled out in traffic while he was still climbing into the passenger seat. He shot me a pissed look and I thought 'Welcome to the club buddy!'

I made it to the police station and hauled my prisoner inside the station. While I was waiting for Robyn to get my paperwork, I noticed the looks going back and forth between Sam and one of the new officers. They were giving each other looks and making strange motions with their hands. I narrowed my eyes and turned to Robyn. I tilted my head towards the other two and softly asked, "What's the story?"

Robyn glanced in their direction before lowering her head and speaking so soft only I was able to hear her, "Stanley Jayley. He was hired the first of December. It's weird, he makes sure not to get close to anyone and he never looks you in the eye. Talk about giving off strange vibes."

I barely nodded my head and said, "Watch yourself around him. He may not be what he'd like you to think he is."

"No doubt. You be careful too. Will I see you tonight?"

I grinned and winked, "Definitely."

Robyn blushed and I gently caressed her hand when she handed me my body receipt. I turned and headed out to the parking lot and was ready to head out before Sam came running out of the building and quickly climbed into the SUV. I had already looked at the other file and knew just how we were going to play this one. I tossed it in Sam's lap for fun and said, "You figure this one out."

Sam read through the file and when he closed it he smiled and said, "This will be like taking candy from a baby."

I nodded, "Good. I'm leaving it to you then."

His smile got bigger and it was all I could do to hold back the laughter. We pulled up in front of Walter Dunphy's building and I turned to Sam and asked, "You want help or do you think you have this one?"

Sam sneered and said, "I am more than capable of handling this one on my own."

I sat back and watched him get out of the SUV and head up to the building. He rang the buzzer and I saw Mooner open the door. I could tell Sam was saying something and Mooner shook his head and held up a toy tribble. I smiled. Looks like there was a Star Trek marathon going on. Sam shook his head and pulled out the cuffs. Mooner's eyes widened and he started jumping up and down and screeching. Suddenly the door slammed and a few seconds later there was the unmistakable sound of police sirens. I grinned as I watched the show.

Officer Barney Fife as everyone liked to call him arrived on the scene and jumped out of his car. He had his gun out and his hand was shaking as he ran towards where Sam was standing at the front door. I could hear him saying, "Raise your hands in the air buddy."

Sam turned and paled. I was puzzled by his reaction. Sam raised his hands and shakily said, "We are here to pick up an FTA."

Barney Fife was shaking his hand around and said, "You got paperwork Bub?"

Sam reached his hand inside his jacket and the gun went off in Barney's hand. I watched as Sam fell to the ground at the same time that Barney made his exit to the ground. I shook my head and climbed out of the SUV. I made my way to the front door and rang the bell. Mooner opened the door and grabbed my wrist and pulled me inside before slamming the door again. "Whoa dude! There's some crazies out there. Come have a seat and we can watch the Klingon fest."

Knowing with Mooner there was no other way I complied. "So how did your bond get so high this time?"

Mooner gave me a pitiful look and said, "Would you believe I was transporting some plants for a friend and when the cops stopped me they said I was transporting a ton of Mary Jane. I don't know any Mary Janes that weigh a ton."

I smiled and made my way to a seat. Looked like we were in for a long afternoon. Nearly four hours later Mooner sighed before standing and turning off the TV. He turned to me and said, "I'm ready to go now dude."

When I opened the door so we could head to the SUV, Sam was gone and so was Barney Fife. I raised an eyebrow and wondered where they had disappeared to. When I got Mooner down to the station I knew where they had disappeared to. Sam was sitting on a bench seat fuming and Barney was red as a beet and apologizing profusely. When Mooner and I walked in, Sam looked up with fire in his eyes and I knew I needed to watch my back. I turned Mooner over to Robyn and got my body receipt. I motioned for Sam to join me and headed out to the parking lot. As we walked to the truck, Sam turned to me with narrowed eyes and said, "I make a bad enemy Santos, so watch your back."

I grinned and gave him a mock salute. "Dually noted."

Once back at Rangeman I went through the routine of writing everything up. I was just going to take my report to Ranger's office when I felt a presence behind me. I turned quickly and smiled as I saw Rafael standing behind me. He was wearing a serious expression and I reached out to tousle his hair. "Don't worry little cousin. I'm just fine."

Rafael nodded and put his small hand on mine. I felt something incredible, unlike anything I had ever felt before. Finally he smiled and said, "Glad you're on our side Uncle Lester."

I held my hand out and Rafael put his small hand in mine. I walked him to the elevator and made sure he was safely on 7 before I took the stairs down to the fourth floor. I had a hot date with Robyn Russell tonight and it was time for me to go get ready. I had something important to ask her tonight. After three years of dating it was past time. I headed to my place and rushed through a shower and getting dressed before I was on the road to go pick up Robyn. It didn't take me long to get to her apartment. I made my way to her door and rang the doorbell. When she came to the door I was floored. She was a vision of loveliness.

I leaned forward and kissed her gently before taking her hand and asking, "Ready?"

Robyn grinned and said, "Definitely."

I led her to my vintage Mustang convertible and after I saw her in her seat I went around to the driver's seat and got us headed towards our destination. When we arrived in Newark I parked in front of a fancy Italian restaurant and led her inside. We were seated and had ordered within moments. I patiently waited till we were done with dessert before I lifted Robyn's hand in mine and kissed her knuckles. I smiled at her and asked, "Robyn Russell, will you do me the honor of being my wife?"

There was a stunned look of Joy on her face and her eyes lit up as she said, "Yes! Yes I'll marry you!"

I slipped the ring on her finger and we kissed. Shortly after my proposal, we got up to leave. I took her back to my place and we celebrated for the rest of the night. I knew the future was going to be perfect with her by my side.


	8. Three Bullet Wounds

**Disclaimer: The characters you recognize as J.E. are hers. Any other character is a figment of my imagination and any similarities to real persons is merely a coincidence**

This story is definitely AU. The characters have the same physical appearance as in J.E.'s books; however I have changed ages of some characters. This is a Babe HEA and Cupcake fans may not be happy as Joe is dead as are Frank and Helen Plum. The Plums as well as Joe are not portrayed favorably, they were bad characters in the original and references may be made in this story as to what their actions were in the original story. References may be made to any of the books in the series, so if you haven't read them all, you may want to wait to read this. That said…

_On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
A Judas Among Us.  
On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me,_

Chapter 8: Three Bullet Wounds

Bobby's POV:

I groaned as my alarm went off and I reached out to shut it off before it woke Lexy. She had a late night at the hospital last night and I didn't want to wake her as she'd only been sleeping a couple of hours. I slipped from the bed and stood watching my wife of two years. I still had difficulty believing I had been married to this beautiful woman for two years. My gaze went over her sleeping form and I smiled as I took in the shape of our child growing in her belly. We were looking forward to an Easter baby. Although we could have found out whether we were having a boy or a girl, we both wanted to be surprised. I took a deep breath and decided I needed to get moving if I wanted to get in a workout before I met with my new partner. I slipped on my workout clothes and left our 6th floor apartment to head down to the gym.

I noticed when I walked through the doors of the gym that my new partner was already there running on a treadmill. I did a few warm up stretches and then stepped up on the one next to him and started my own run. I noticed Derry looking over every once in a while and he seemed to be hiding something from me. I narrowed my eyes and let myself relax the way Rafael had showed me. The images that came to mind had me questioning whether I could trust the man beside me. Lester, Tank and I knew Ranger didn't trust at least one of the new men but that's all we knew. Although Rafael had been working with us we weren't up to Ranger's level yet. Once I finished my run I was heading to the weight machines when my beeper went off. I checked my pager and the message was that Ram was on his way in with Junior. I headed for the shower and called to Derry on my way to tell him he needed to get dressed because we were being paged and would be busy in less than 10 minutes.

I didn't wait to see if Derry was ready to go because I had a lot to get prepped before Junior got here. I was hoping it wouldn't be too serious. I reached my office and started prepping for any contingency. Just as I was finishing up Derry walked in. Two steps behind him were Ram and Junior. We helped Junior onto the exam table and I untied the bandage on his upper arm. Ram was giving me the basics as I did this.

Ram told me, "We were picking up a skip and he slipped the cuffs and got off a shot before I was able to subdue him again. I bandaged the arm and added some pressure to stem the blood flow but I didn't cut it entirely."

I worked to get the wound cleared and swore. This was a bad one and I was glad they had brought him to me rather than take him to the hospital. I was going to need Rafael on this one though to protect the building. Just as I was reaching for the phone, Derry took off his gloves and placed his hands on Junior's arm. There was a white glow and Junior had a look of ecstasy on his face. I took in Derry's demeanor and my eyes narrowed. I had a sudden thought and although I wouldn't expect him to help one of us, he might be trying to fool us into believing he was on our side. I cleared my thoughts because I wasn't as good at hiding my thoughts as Lester or Ranger. Hell, no one was in Ranger's league. Maybe that's because he'd had 5 years of practice with Rafael.

When Derry stepped back he swayed. I didn't have time to check on him but went to Junior and noticed I had what I needed so I could safely remove the bullet and the poison they'd spread around the bullet site. Once I had the bullet out, Derry had a container he was holding for me to place the bullet in. Once it was inside he closed it. I disinfected Junior's wound and sewed him up before bandaging the wound. I went over to my desk and grabbed a prescription bottle. "Take one of these three times a day. Any problems you come back to see me."

Junior nodded. "Can I go back to work now?"

I glared at him and he held up his good hand. "I take it that's a no."

"Damn right it's a NO! You need to get some rest. I'll check on you in a bit."

Junior rolled his eyes and I was about to turn to Derry and ask where he learned his little skill when Binky and Hal hurried into the office. I knew at a glance I was looking at another bullet wound. I sighed and went to wash up telling Derry to clean up and get a new set of tools out and ready. When I turned around with fresh gloves on Derry had everything set up. I paused for a moment as I watched the way he was looking at the wound. Just at a glance I knew we had another bad bullet wound. This one was in Hal's left upper thigh. I cut the pants leg away and got my first glimpse. I whipped my head around to Derry and our eyes met. I saw the knowledge in his eyes as well. I stepped back and let him do what he did before to help Junior. Once Derry nodded to me I stepped forward and dug out the bullet. Derry had another container and we disposed of the second bullet in the same way as the first one.

I bandaged Hal and gave him a prescription of antibiotics similar to the ones I gave Junior. Derry and I were able to clean the office up completely before our next emergency. As a matter of fact we were able to head to the break room and grab a bite of lunch and check up on both of our patients as well as get the paperwork completed on both men. We were just sitting back relaxing with a cup of coffee when the final call came in. I checked my pager and noticed Tank was coming in with Phil. I tensed wondering which one of them was the injured one. I had a sense of impending doom and it wasn't helped along by the fact that Rafael came running into my office with Ranger right behind him. I quickly moved to get my office set up and had just finished when Cal, Hector, Phil, and Vince practically carried Tank into my office. Tank was pale and looked to be losing blood fast. I went to step towards Tank but Rafael stopped me. He stepped up to the big guy and placed his small hands on Tank's abdomen. I watched in awe as his eyes closed and there was a white light stronger than I had ever witnessed. Derry went to step forward but there was an invisible barrier blocking him from getting closer.

As we watched, Tank's color got better and he seemed to be in no pain. After several minutes Rafael lowered his hands and turned to the rest of us. His gaze met mine and I heard him say, 'It's safe for you to operate now Uncle Bobby. But you have to move quickly or he may still yet die.'

I forced myself not to react and to just do the job I needed to do. I was putting the bandage on when Lula came barreling into the office demanding, "Where is he? Where's my Tankie?"

Ranger stepped forward barring her way until I was done. He leaned down and said something to her. She momentarily paled and then pulled herself to her full height by straightening up with a nod. Ranger placed a hand on her shoulder and led her over to the table where Tank lay. When she got close I saw her put her hand to her mouth for a moment as fear entered her eyes and then she stiffened and lowered her hand to lay it on Tank. We all breathed a sigh of relief when the big guy's hand came up to cover Lula's. His eyes fluttered opened and his gaze went to Lula's.

Tank's voice was raspy as he spoke, "Hey Mama Bear…love you."

Lula had tears streaming down her cheeks, "Tankie what you got yoself inta this time?"

I saw Tank's gaze slide to Phil and my eyes narrowed in anger. I had a feeling we had this idiot to thank for the position Tank was in. I went over to the pharmacy cabinet and pulled out the powerful antibiotic I needed to give Tank. I handed the bottle to Lula and said, "He needs to take one of these three times a day."

"Don't you worry about Tankie. He'll take these and be up and about in no time. If he has his way he'll be to work tomorrow."

I smiled because I knew she was right. No matter what I would say, there was no keeping Tank down when he didn't want to be. I turned to Ranger and lifted an eyebrow. Ranger gave a half smile and told Lula, "If Tank insists on working tomorrow you can tell him he has monitor duty."

Lula grinned at Ranger and said, "He's gonna hate that but you know he gonna be down here first thing."

We knew she was right. Ranger, Vince, Cal, and Hector helped Lula get Tank up to the 6th floor where their apartment was and Derry and I went to clean up when I noticed Rafael watching Derry. There was a look in his eyes I had never witnessed before. As if he sensed my gaze, he turned to me and our gazes locked. I sensed him searching for something. I knew the moment he had what he needed because he turned to Derry, watching him for several moments before he blinked and turned to give me a wink before disappearing after his Dad and the guys. I noticed Phil was looking ill at ease in my office. My eyes narrowed on him and I demanded, "What happened?"

Phil turned to me and swallowed visibly. "We were on a call and suddenly there was a gunshot and he went down. He managed to draw his weapon and return fire before he passed out. I was about to call in when Cal, Vince and Hector showed up and helped get him back here."

What he just told me was without the three men showing up, my friend would now be dead because this idiot wouldn't have had the presence of mind to call for help. I was beyond pissed. I turned to Derry and practically growled, "Derry, why don't you show _Phil_ out."

I finished up my paper work and then I headed up to five so I could talk with Ranger. I was concerned that all three of the men shot today had been hit with a powerful bullet that would have killed them had not Derry and Rafael defused it before I operated. I had all three reports in my hand as I knocked on Ranger's door and was bid enter. I opened the door and stepped inside. I handed Ranger the reports and our gazes locked. He knew I was telling him more than I was saying.

"I've had three men come in with gunshot wounds. They had to be defused before I could operate. All three men made it, but Tank came closest to dying."

Ranger looked through the reports and nodded. "I'll have Babe take a look to see if she can pick up anything."

I nodded, "Derry has abilities. He defused the first two so I could operate. They weren't on the scale of Tank's…but I thought you should know."

Ranger nodded and said, "Dismissed. Go home to your wife and try to enjoy your evening."

I gave a weak grin and turned towards the door, raising my hand and giving a half wave as I headed out of the room. I headed up to the 6th floor where my apartment was located and let myself in. I smiled as I heard Lexy working in the kitchen. I walked through the apartment into the kitchen and smiled at the beautiful woman there. I went forward and wrapped my arms around her and nuzzled her neck. I closed my eyes and hugged her to me. She brought her hand up to my head and asked, "What's going on Baby?"

I chuckled, "There's no putting one over on you is there?"

She turned in my arms and hugged me. "I can feel the tension in you. Tell me."

I sighed, "I had to remove three bullets today. All three of them had to be defused before I could operate and I could have lost one of my good friends. Tank came close to not making it."

She kissed my forehead. "I'm sorry Baby. Any idea what is going on? I mean, it's not normal to have three cases like this."

I shook my head and spoke softly, "I think it might have something to do with the fight that's coming down before the New Year."

Lexy nodded. "Tell me what I can do to help."

"You're doing it."

Three years ago I had met Lexy at St. Francis when we took Vince in after an apprehension gone wrong. I took one look at Lexy and fell. We'd dated for five months before I asked her to marry me. She accepted and we decided to move in together. When I had told everyone that Lexy and I were getting married, Ranger reminded me there was an apartment on 6 for me if I was interested. I talked with Lexy and she agreed that it would make a perfect home for our family. Lexy, Ella and Stephanie had gone to work remodeling the apartment and planning for the wedding. When I brought my wife to our home after our honeymoon, I was thrilled with what Lexy had done to our space. We married two years ago and although we decided we would be okay with a baby whenever it happened, we also didn't feel pressured to reproduce. When we finally learned Lexy was pregnant, we were over the moon.

Now here we were preparing for our future.

_Since this is a twelve days of Christmas and the twelfth day will be Christmas Day, I hope you don't mind that this will progress faster so hopefully that part of the story will be over by the 23__rd__ of the month and we can have two days off for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and I will continue posting the 26__th__. No day will be slighted but you may get more than one chapter in a day._


	9. Four False Alarms

**Disclaimer: The characters you recognize as J.E. are hers. Any other character is a figment of my imagination and any similarities to real persons is merely a coincidence**

This story is definitely AU. The characters have the same physical appearance as in J.E.'s books; however I have changed ages of some characters. This is a Babe HEA and Cupcake fans may not be happy as Joe is dead as are Frank and Helen Plum. The Plums as well as Joe are not portrayed favorably, they were bad characters in the original and references may be made in this story as to what their actions were in the original story. References may be made to any of the books in the series, so if you haven't read them all, you may want to wait to read this. That said…

_**Thank you to Vanessa Loor for translating my English into Spanish. I would also like to thank all those who review as guests and those who have PMing turned off. I greatly appreciate all the reviews. **_

_On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
A Judas Among Us.  
On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me,_

Chapter 9: Four False Alarms

Tank's POV:

I felt like shit when my alarm went off but I was determined to do my shift today. The holidays were going to be upon us and I wanted to have Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with my Lillie and Mama Bear. I slowly got up and headed for the shower. It took me extra time to dress and then I headed to the kitchen where Lula and Lillie were already seated at the breakfast table. Lula stretched up to plant a kiss on me and told me to sit down and she'd get my breakfast for me. Apparently Ella had dropped off a casserole since she knew I had a close call yesterday. I dug in and grinned as I saw Lillie and Lula enjoying it as well.

Once I was done I stood to make my way down to 5 and kissed Lula and Lillie before heading out. My gut was on fire and moving was a tough one but I made my way towards the monitors since Ranger had declared if I came in today it would be for monitor duty. Damn it! He knew I fucking hated monitor duty. I think it was his way of trying to get me to take a day off. He didn't know how determined I was not to take off before Christmas Eve. When I reached the elevator I gave it a wistful look before heading to the stairwell. It was only one flight of stairs after all. Just as I was turning to go to the stairwell, the elevator doors opened and Stephanie was there with Rafael and Katie. I smiled and she gave me one of those looks. I shook my head and without a word I stepped into the elevator and rode down to 5 with them.

Stephanie spoke softly as she told me, "I need you to send Ranger up to 7. I've had a chance to review the reports and I have something I need to talk to him about. I don't want to take Katie into the mix on 5. Not that I don't trust you guys, but there have been some new developments."

"Say no more. You stay on the elevator and I'll send Ranger up."

Stephanie smiled. "Thanks."

I got off on 5 and they rode back up to 7. I headed for Ranger's office and knocked. At his enter I opened the door and stepped in. I closed the door and said quietly, "Steph needs to see you Rangeman."

Ranger looked up and our gazes locked. So many thoughts went unspoken but I knew my friend understood exactly what I was telling him. With a slight nod of his head he stood and headed up to the penthouse. I continued on to the Comm Room where I would be working the monitors today. Erik and Hector were there and as I walked in Hector looked up and grinned.

I asked Hector, "Ha pasado algo?" (Anything happening?)

Hector replied, "Ha estado callado toda la noche. Muy callado si entiendes lo que te estoy queriendo decir. Tengo un sentimiento de que algo anda mal." (It's been quiet all night. Too quiet if you get my drift. I get a feeling things are off.)

Tank asked, "Algo en especifico?" (Got any specifics on that?)

Hector shrugged and replied, "Nada especifico. Solo un presentimiento." (Nothing I can put my finger on. Just a hunch.)

Tank nods, "Estare pendiente." (I'll keep my eyes open.)

Hector raised a hand and said, "Cuidate mi hermano." (Watch your back my brother.)

I sat down in the chair Hector vacated and turned my eyes to the screens in front of me. I had no more than gotten situated when I heard the sound of someone hitting the wall behind me. I smiled because I didn't need eyes in the back of my head to know Hector had just put Phil into the wall without laying a hand on him. When Phil took his seat beside me he was wearing a frown and I'm sure he was wondering what the hell just happened. I saw him getting set as Erik and Hector headed out.

We'd been sitting there nearly an hour when I noticed something funny on one of Phil's monitors. I frowned as I didn't see him reacting to it. What the hell was this idiot up to? I punched in the code and sent out a team of guys to check it out. I had just finished doing that when one of our silent alarms went off at Northcut Jewelers. I sent another team out to check the alarm and continued watching. I kept glancing over at Phil and clenching my jaw as I saw him ignoring the monitors and just looking off into space. I was about ready to say something to him when I got another alarm going off. I checked the monitors and although nothing was showing I called a team to go check it out before turning to the other monitors.

Before I could do anything more two more alarms sounded and although there was nothing on the screen, SOP was to send a team out to check it so again I sent the teams. Once I had sent out the last team I started getting reports. Team 1 reported back that it was a false alarm and nothing out of the ordinary was going on. Shortly after that I heard from team 2 and they had a similar report. It was nearly 45 minutes later when team 3 reported all was secure and then team 4 reported their alarm was a false alarm as well. I narrowed my eyes and wondered who the hell was fucking with us because there was no way we ever had four alarms in one day. Hell, we rarely had a false alarm.

I kept my eyes on the monitors and while one part of my brain focused on what was going on with the screens, my thoughts drifted to the events of yesterday. When I left for the day Lillie had been exceptionally clingy, not wanting me to leave. She made me promise to wear my Kevlar vest and I had reluctantly agreed to ease her mind. It was a lucky thing because the Kevlar and Rafael are the only things that kept me alive yesterday. I flicked a glance over to Phil and narrowed my eyes as I recalled the way he was looking at me when the shooter stepped out of the alley and opened fire. He just stood there looking at me.

Suddenly Phil stilled and turned his gaze to meet mine. Our eyes locked for a moment and then he quickly turned back to the screens in front of him. I could tell he was nervous and I wondered at that. I also wondered if he were the reason Ranger had us shadowing the new recruits. I eased back in my chair and let my mind wander over the past four years. This Christmas night we would celebrate Lillie's arrival in our lives. Lula and I had been blessed with her arrival. We still kept touch with her birth mother and she was welcome in our home anytime she wished. Although she liked the updates on Lillie, she was happy with that as the extent of her presence in Lillie's life. As a matter of fact, Lula got a Christmas card from her and she was getting married in the spring. She told her fiancé about Lillie's existence and the young man agreed that it was best not to get further involved at this point.

Although Lula and I would welcome a dozen more children into our lives, we were starting to wonder if it were in the cards. My little girl was a lot like her Mama. Same kick ass attitude and all. When she got together with Rafael and Mathew she didn't take no shit off anybody. When she cocked that hip of hers and put her hand on her hip and held up the other hand in a 'Stop right there' pose, it was all I could do not to burst with pride. My little girl had a heart as big as her Mama's as well. Our apartment on 6 was still perfect for our family. We could add another couple of kids and still have room.

I was brought out of my thoughts by the arrival of Cal. He grinned and asked, "Anything happening?"

"We had movement at one location and four separate false alarms."

Cal's eyebrow raised, "Four?"

Our gazes locked and I knew what he was asking. I tipped my head slightly in a nod. Cal indicated he got the message and I knew he would be keeping his eyes opened. I stood and slowly made my way towards the stairwell door. I was just to the elevator when the doors opened and I grinned as I heard, "Papa!"

I turned and saw my little angel girl running to great me. She wrapped her little arms around one of my legs and said, "I miss you Papa! When you done working?"

I rested my hand on her small head and smiled, "I was just on my way up to you and your Mama."

She squeezed my leg in a tight hug before letting me loose and reaching up to place her little hand in my much larger hand. "Let's go home Papa."

My heart melted as it always did and I let my baby girl lead me to the elevator and I rode up the one floor to reach our home.

_Okay, what do you think? Some said the Judas is Sam…are you sticking with him or changing your minds? Others have said Phil is the bad guy…do you still think that way or have you changed your mind? No one thought Derry was the bad guy…do you still feel that way? _


	10. Five New Clues

**Disclaimer: The characters you recognize as J.E. are hers. Any other character is a figment of my imagination and any similarities to real persons is merely a coincidence**

This story is definitely AU. The characters have the same physical appearance as in J.E.'s books; however I have changed ages of some characters. This is a Babe HEA and Cupcake fans may not be happy as Joe is dead as are Frank and Helen Plum. The Plums as well as Joe are not portrayed favorably, they were bad characters in the original and references may be made in this story as to what their actions were in the original story. References may be made to any of the books in the series, so if you haven't read them all, you may want to wait to read this. That said…

_**I would like to thank all those who review as guests and those who have PMing turned off. I greatly appreciate all the reviews. **_

_On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
A Judas Among Us.  
On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Four False Alarms, Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me,_

Chapter 10: Five New Clues

Rodriguez's POV:

I entered my office from my apartment and looked over the files that had been delivered to me. I felt the smile as I saw the drawing on top. It was from Lillie. God I loved that kid. She was a little Angel. I'll never forget the day she'd accidentally seen me. I was heading up to 5 and she and Rafael were racing down the stairs. I froze when I saw them and looked frantically for a way to avoid them but it wasn't to be. Lillie was in the lead and she screeched to a stop and looked up at me with a sad expression on her little face. Rafael had come to join her and placed his small hand on her shoulder. I felt my heart in my throat as I heard Rafael tell her, "It's alright Lillie. The pain is an old one."

Her lower lip quivered and she shook her head, "The pain is still there Rafe. It's just better hid."

With that she'd stepped up to me and placed her tiny hand on one of my hands. I had to bite my cheek not to react when she said, "I won't let you hurt no more Miguel. I be your friend."

I flicked a glance to Ranger's kid to see if I could find a way out of this and noticed his gaze bore into mine and there was fierceness in his eyes that told me I was in trouble if I hurt Lillie. I turned back to the little girl and with a voice raspy from disuse I told her, "I'm fine. Your friend Rafael is right. It's an old pain."

Lillie shook her head, "I'm not talking the scars. I see the loneliness."

My eyes burned and I fought the tears that wanted to well up in my eyes. I moved to continue on my way and Lillie lifted her other hand that was carrying a picture. "Lookit here Miguel. You can have my Angel drawing. The Angels can stay with you till we meet again and you won't be lonely."

I accepted the drawing and suddenly I felt a burden lift. I smiled…or what passed for a smile now and nodded. "Thanks."

Lillie grinned and the whole stairwell lit up. I took a deep breath and made myself move up the stairwell to the 5th floor. I heard the childish laughter as the two raced up to the floors above. From that moment on I had a special place in my heart for Tank's little girl. She made it her life's work to make sure I had a new picture every couple of days. The first time she'd asked her daddy to put a picture on my stack of searches the big guy himself delivered the stack and glowered at me wanting to know how I come to meet his baby. When I told Tank what had happened there were tears on his cheek and his eye were shinning with love. I picked up today's picture and the beauty of the drawing made my heart lighter. I moved through to my apartment and placed the drawing in the place of honor on the fridge.

Once I had the picture displayed, I gently touched the drawing and smiled before heading back to my office. I went through all the files and set them in the piles for the guys I thought would handle them the best. There were five that I wanted Stephanie to look at even though I knew Ranger would hand me my ass on a silver platter. I left them on my desk and arranged the rest to take up to 5 and pass out to the guys. I narrowed my eyes and checked the wall clock noticing I still had 10 minutes before my window of opportunity. I didn't like the others seeing me. As a matter of fact, I preferred not to deal with people at all. That's why this job suited me so well. It had been eight years since it happened and I remembered it as if it had just been yesterday. Of course, life-altering events were rarely forgotten.

Eight years ago I had been sent on a mission. It was going to be my last mission and I didn't realize that neither I nor any of the men my team was sent in after were supposed to make it back out. The man I was training as my replacement had been given a special set of instructions to make sure we failed in our mission and the team to be rescued as well as myself were casualties. We had extracted the team of four men. It was Ranger and the rest of the core team. Just as we were about to get out free and clear, my replacement triggered an alarm the enemy had set up to warn them of our approach. The moment I looked at him I knew it was deliberate. I lost no time in taking him out and the rest of us hauled ass out of that God forsaken jungle. We were almost clear when a grenade was lobbed in our direction and I knew there was only one way to save the team. I turned to Ranger and said, "Make sure that asshole pays for setting us up."

Ranger had nodded and I threw myself onto the grenade. When I woke up in a hospital my face, and 90% of my body was covered in bandages. The doctor's told me I was lucky to be alive. I never felt I was lucky. My face would forever be scarred as well as the rest of my body. I had all my limbs, I could walk and talk, use my arms and hands…but there was a certain part of me that had been destroyed that day. It was taken from me and there was nothing I could do about it. Never again would I be with a woman. When Ranger came to visit me several days later, I saw in his eyes that he knew what I was thinking. He'd placed a knife under the sheets near me and our eyes locked.

Ranger said, "You have a hard road ahead of you. If you have the guts to fight and live, come see me when you get out of here and you'll have a job with whatever restrictions you want to put in effect."

I nodded and he'd left. Over the next several months I often held that knife and wondered why I was fighting to live. In the end, I left the hospital and headed to see Ranger. I'd been here for the past 7 years and although I had a life of sorts, it wasn't the life I had expected. I turned my focus onto the five folders I wanted Stephanie to see. I clenched my hands and sat at my desk to dig into them. When I got done I had 5 clues that I knew Ranger would need for the fight that was headed our way. I narrowed my eyes and stood. I carried the folders and made my way up to 5. I didn't bother with the ones the guys would run searches on. This information was too precious and I knew Ranger would need it ASAP. It wasn't until I left the stairwell that I realized I was walking onto the floor at one of the busiest times. I stiffened and continued on my way to Ranger's office. When I got there I lifted my hand and knocked firmly on the door.

I heard Ranger's, "Enter."

I opened the door and stepped into the room. "I have five files here I need Stephanie to look at. I've already dug into them and come up with five different clues. I need her to do her magic to see what else is in there."

I handed Ranger the files and he looked over what I had just done before looking up and meeting my gaze. Without a word he lifted the phone and paused before speaking, "Babe. I need you to come down to 5. Rodriguez dug up some information and wants you to work your magic on them."

I watched as he listened and smiled before replacing the receiver. "She'll be down in a minute. Have a seat while we wait."

I nodded and sat down. It was only a couple of moments before Stephanie came hurrying in with Rafael beside her and the new baby in her arms. She glanced my way on entering and the smile that lit her face stunned me.

"So I finally am honored with meeting Rodriguez." She walked over to where I was sitting and held out her hand. I took it awkwardly and she gently squeezed my hand. I was further floored when she gently placed the baby in my arms and walked over behind Ranger. "Let me see what we have."

Ranger moved back so she could sit on his lap as she got busy on the computer. Her hands flew over the keys and I watched in fascination for a moment until I was distracted by a tingling feeling coming over me. I glanced down at the baby in my arms and saw she was staring up at me with a light in her eyes I'd never witnessed before. It was like being healed from the inside out. I smiled at her and noticed she made me feel much as Lillie did when she was near. I'm not sure how long I sat there holding this tiny Angel…but suddenly I was aware that my name was being called. I lifted my head and glanced at my boss.

Ranger was smiling. "I see my daughter has made another conquest. She has a way of grabbing hold of your heart and latching on."

I returned Ranger's smile and said, "Similar to Lillie. They're little Angels."

Ranger chuckled, "They are indeed."

Just then Stephanie spoke up, "Damn!"

Ranger turned to his wife and asked, "What is it Babe?"

Stephanie handed him a printout she took from the printer, "See for yourself."

Ranger read over the paper and frowned. Rafael went over and placed a hand on Ranger's arm. "Don't worry Dad. It will all turn out right." Rafael turned to me, "Thank you Miguel. Your warning of the clues will help us to protect Lillie and Katie."

My eyes narrowed and I stood. "Someone's threatening Lillie and Katie?"

Stephanie bit her lip and nodded. "That's what the clues are indicating. They plan to attack them to divert our attention so they can get to Rafael and Mathew easier."

I glared. "Like hell they will." I held Katie to me and looked down, "I have no powers, but I will fight with all that's left of me to protect Lillie and your new baby."

Rafael smiled and I felt something inside I had never felt before. Rafael told me, "You are stronger than you know. Your pledge has been heard and I honor your pledge. Lillie and Katie will be safe in your charge."

Stephanie stepped over and as she took her daughter she smiled at me and kissed my cheek. I winced at the contact not understanding how she could stand to touch someone as monstrous looking as myself. She raised a hand to my cheek and said, "You are a beautiful man." She placed her hand on my heart, "In here."

I watched as she and the children left. Ranger grinned at me and said, "Welcome back to the land of the living."

I rolled my eyes and he burst out laughing. I just shook my head and headed back to my office. As I stopped at the door I asked, "Can you have one of the guys stop down for the files."

Ranger nodded, "Sure."

I had just made it down to my office when there was a knock.

Binkie's POV:

I was surprised when Ranger asked me if I'd go down to 4 and pick up the files from Rodriguez. I knew I'd seen him up here just a few minutes ago and wondered why he didn't bring the files up with him. Of course, it wasn't my job to question orders, just to follow them. I knocked on Rodriguez's door and was surprised when he opened it quickly. He stepped back and I walked into the office. "Ranger sent me down for the files."

He nodded and handed them to me. I saw there were sticky notes sticking up saying who got the files. I turned and waved my hand at him saying, "Have a good day man." And then I headed back up to 5. I delivered the files to the guys and headed for my own desk. I had just sat down when my phone rang. I answered with a, "It's your nickel."

Laughter was my answer. I smiled and lowered my voice, "Is that you Baby?"

A raspy voice on the other end said, "You know it is."

"What you doing?"

"Well, I'm sitting here in the middle of the bathroom with that little thing I had you get from the pharmacy yesterday."

I stilled. "And?"

"Positive."

I dropped the phone and scrambled to pick it back up. "You sure Baby?"

"As sure as I can be. Of course you did get five different types and I took all of them. All of the results are the same so I think it's safe to say we are going to have a baby."

"Damn! That's great Baby. Can I tell the guys?"

I heard laughter and then, "Yeah, I suppose you can. Now hurry home so we can celebrate."

I jumped up and ran to the control room and grabbed the mike. I flipped the switch and announced, "Hey dudes listen up! I'm gonna be a daddy!"

There were whoops and hollers and the guys were slapping me on the back. My life had undergone a lot of changes in the past four years. I had met a beautiful woman and we had made a life together. She was everything I had been searching for. Within three months of meeting we were married and had just celebrated our 4th anniversary. Now we were going to have a baby as well. I felt a slap on the back and turned to see Woody smiling from ear to ear. I grinned back.

Woody's eyes twinkled and said, "It's about time you made me an uncle."

Woody's POV:

I was thrilled when I heard Binkie and my little sister were going to have a baby. After the tragedy of her past, I was glad to see my sister move on with her life when she met Binkie. Like Cherry said, she couldn't help but fall in love with him. Knowing how precious time could be, once she realized her feelings she didn't wait around to tempt fate. Cherry had been engaged to her high school sweetheart and they had been planning to marry when he returned home from the Marines. The only thing is when he returned it was just his shell of a body that came home. At least she had closure though. She had come to visit about a year after his death. She had tried to throw herself into another relationship too quickly and had nearly lost her life to an abusive control freak. She came here to heal and so I could watch over her till the bastard went to trial. The coward took his own life when he had been convicted of attempted murder. Shortly after she arrived I had introduced her to Binkie and she fell hard for him. When she told me she was in love with my friend I questioned that it was still very soon. She smiled and said Binkie knew about her past and said he loved her. She believed him and knew her feelings for him were the real deal.

I gave her away and over the last few years I had watched her blossom. There was no doubt in my mind they truly loved each other. Of course when Binkie's older sister had come to the wedding, I took one look and fell myself. I smiled as I recalled the fire between Debbie and me. We argued and toed off at one another for several months before that fateful day when I took her in my arms and kissed her. We were married a year after meeting and within another year we had a son followed by a daughter a year after that. I was very happy with my young family. As my thoughts returned to what was going on around me I noticed Junior was slapping Binkie on the back and congratulating him. I looked to my brother in law and friend and we smiled at each other and went back to work.

Junior's POV:

I congratulated my friend and co-worker on his good news and wished him well. I was hoping to have some good news of my own one of these days. Rachel and I were going out this evening and I had the ring in my pocket to pop the question tonight. When I heard Lester had bought the farm and asked Robyn to marry him I decided I too no longer had any desire to remain single. I headed to my apartment on 4 and got ready for the evening. In no time I was on my way to pick up the woman I loved and planned to take her to the new French restaurant in town. When I knocked on her door and she opened the door I was floored once again at her beauty.

Rachel smiled and I took her in my arms and we kissed. She handed me her key and I locked up for her and led her to my car. We made our way to the restaurant and had a lovely meal. I timed my proposal just right and once we had drank our coffee I kneeled and took her hand in mine. "Rachel Marie Tillman, will you do me the honor of marrying me?"

Tears fell from her eyes and she nodded, "Yes!"

I took her in my arms and we kissed once again. Only the sound of our waiter coughing interrupted our celebration. We left shortly after and as we were walking to the door I noticed Tom and Connie were seated in a cozy little alcove. I smiled and hugged Rachel closer as we left.

Tom's POV:

I sat looking at my beautiful wife and noticed she literally glowed. I had a feeling it was because of the child that grew in her belly and I was thrilled we would have a child of our own next Christmas. Connie told me she had let Lester know the other day about the baby and I was thrilled. I wanted everyone to know the great news. We ate our dinner and celebrated in our quite way the new life that was going to be joining our family. Once I had finally convinced Connie her families connections meant nothing to me and I loved her and that was all that was important, she finally agreed to be my wife. Her family ended up being my staunchest allies. They only wanted for Connie to be happy.

Once we finished our meal, I helped my wife out to the car and we made our way home. As we were turning into our neighborhood, I thought I recognized Erik heading in the opposite direction and wondered if he was going out on a call. In no time we were home and Connie and I made our way inside the house and had an early night so we could continue our celebrating in the bedroom.

Erik's POV:

I was on my way to a call when I thought I saw Tom and Connie returning home. I smiled thinking about all the babies there were going to be around Rangeman this next year. I couldn't wait to tell everyone my own news. Beth and I were expecting a child as well. She wanted to get through the first trimester before telling anyone because of the miscarriage she had last year. When we got married 18 months ago we had planned to start our family right away. So when she found out she was pregnant we couldn't wait to tell everyone. Then when she miscarried at 7 weeks we were devastated. We had both grieved for a long time but we gained strength from each other's support. Four months ago Beth told me she was ready to start trying again. If we made it till January 1st, we would be past the first trimester. We were both anxiously looking forward to that day.

_Sorry I'm a little late with this one. I had a Dr.'s appointment today and so lost a lot of the day to travel time and the waiting in the Dr.'s office. I'll get another chapter up later today. By the way, the Dr. said my arm is doing very well. Only problems I have are bending it up._


	11. Six Allies Helping

**Disclaimer: The characters you recognize as J.E. are hers. Any other character is a figment of my imagination and any similarities to real persons is merely a coincidence**

This story is definitely AU. The characters have the same physical appearance as in J.E.'s books; however I have changed ages of some characters. This is a Babe HEA and Cupcake fans may not be happy as Joe is dead as are Frank and Helen Plum. The Plums as well as Joe are not portrayed favorably, they were bad characters in the original and references may be made in this story as to what their actions were in the original story. References may be made to any of the books in the series, so if you haven't read them all, you may want to wait to read this. That said…

_**I would like to thank all those who review as guests and those who have PMing turned off. I greatly appreciate all the reviews. **_

_On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
A Judas Among Us.  
On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Four False Alarms, Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Five New Clues  
Four False Alarms, Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me,_

Chapter 11: Six Allies Helping

Ram's POV:

I had just entered the floor when I got a text from Ranger wanting me to stop by his office before the morning meeting. I headed that way and knocked on his door. At his enter I opened the door and stepped inside. I wasn't surprised to see the core team in the room. Somehow it was fitting. I closed the door and stood at attention as I met Ranger's gaze and said, "You wanted to see me sir?"

Ranger nodded, "I have a special job for you. I need you to make contact with all the names on this list. You'll need to contact them today at their homes so take whatever time you need. Since your shift will be an odd one today you can have tomorrow off."

I took the list Ranger handed me and I glanced at the names before once again turning to the man behind the desk. If he wanted me to make contact with these men then I would do it. I nodded. I turned and headed out. I didn't need Ranger telling me to know I was dismissed. I headed for the stairwell when I left Ranger's office. I had been given a task and the best times to catch these guys where I wanted them. I didn't need to be told I was being excused from the morning meeting. When I hit the garage I grabbed the keys to the SUV I normally drove and headed out. I was planning an early morning meeting with our illustrious Governor and in order to get there in time I needed to light a fire now.

When I pulled up to the Capital Building there was an armed guard who greeted me. I showed him my credentials and stated my business. He motioned me onward and I pulled into the parking lot and headed inside. It didn't take me long to reach the office of the Governor and I paused long enough to knock and waited till I was bid to enter. I opened the door and Joe Juniak smiled and stood, holding his hand out to me. I stepped forward and shook his hand before having the seat he motioned me to.

"I was asked to come see you and read you in on what's coming down the road."

Juniak nodded. "You tell Stephanie she has my full support."

I nodded and handed him the file Ranger had given me. I watched as Juniak read through the file and when he set it on his desk he raised his gaze to meet mine. I could see the wheels turning in his mind and stayed silent waiting for him to break the silence. Finally he said, "Tell Wonder Women that Alpha Squad is at her disposal. And tell Batman he has everything I have at his disposal as well."

I nodded and stood. "Yes sir. By the way, Ranger said the last is as important as the first."

Juniak's eyes narrowed and he looked again at the last page of the file. He raised his head and silently nodded. I moved to the door and left, heading for the next destination on my list. If I hurried I would catch him before he left for work. Of course I ran the risk his wife would be home but I was sure we could find a quiet place to talk. It took me 15 minutes to make my way across town and I parked at the curb and checked the area before heading up to the house. I rang the bell and the door was opened by Eddie. He gave me a puzzled look and I motioned with my head, "Can we talk?"

Eddie hesitated before nodding and said, "Follow me. I take it this is to be private?"

"Yes."

Eddie led me to the garage and we entered through a side door. He put a finger up to his mouth and I followed his unspoken cue and remained silent as I followed him to a small room. Once the door was shut he turned to me and nodded, "You can talk now. This room is sound proof. Never knew what I would need a sound proof room for but I guess you can never tell."

I handed him the file I had been directed to give him and he silently read through the information before whistling. "Tell Steph I got her back. I'll be ready when she needs me."

I nodded and watched as Eddie placed the file in a hidden safe before pocketing the key. Eddie frowned and asked, "Can I assume she has the file in code?"

I nodded and Eddie grinned. "Tell her I got her covered."

We headed out and Eddie turned to tell me, "If you go to this address you can catch two of the people I know you are going to see."

"Thanks." Eddie handed me a piece of paper and I glanced at it before we headed in our own directions.

Ten minutes later I was at the address and I got out of the SUV and looked around. I saw Carl and Big Dog shortly after I exited the vehicle and made my way over to them. "Can we talk?"

Carl nodded and turned back to the building. I followed him with Big Dog bringing up the rear. I handed them the file and watched as they read through it. Carl smiled and I pitied the poor fool on the receiving end of that smile. He read the last page and went back to the front. After several minutes he growled and said, "Damn!" He raised his gaze and told me, "Tell Steph we are backing her on this. She has whatever she needs from us."

I left the two of them and had some time so I headed to where Jillian worked. I liked to meet her whenever I could for lunch. Man I loved that woman. We had met 2 years ago and were married within a year. I hadn't mentioned it to the guys yet but Jill was 5 months pregnant. She wanted to keep it a surprise until Christmas so I honored her wishes. We were going to tell everyone on Christmas Eve. I couldn't wait. When I walked into the store she smiled and made her way over to me. I took her in my arms and we kissed.

I asked, "Do you have time for lunch?"

She giggled, "I always have time for lunch with you."

I waited for her to tell her assistant where she was going and we headed out to a nearby restaurant. We ate and spent a few moments playing tonsil hockey before I walked her back to the shop. I headed to my next destination and when I got there I was surprised to see Lester and Sam heading back to Lester's SUV. I nodded to him and asked, "What up?"

Lester motioned to his partner and said, "Sam thought our FTA ran into that building so we've spent the better part of an hour searching through the building."

"Any luck?"

Lester looked disgusted, "No. Genius over there thinks he was mistaken now but didn't decide on that till just a few minutes ago."

My gaze went to Sam and I had a funny feeling in my gut that I was the reason he wanted out of here. I waved to Les and told him later, before making my way into the building. I went to the apartment I needed and rang the buzzer. The door was opened and I felt someone frantically jerking at my wrist. I looked down and saw Randy frantically trying to get me in his apartment so he could shut the door.

"What's going On?" I asked.

"I just don't think it's safe out there."

I looked around his apartment and asked, "What happened in here?"

"He came looking for me. Good thing I was hiding."

I frowned. I didn't see any possible hiding spaces. "Where did you manage to hide?"

Randy motioned to a mail box. It was about 3and ½ feet tall and there was an overlarge mail slot. I raised a brow and he shrugged, "Don't knock it. It kept him from finding me."

I nodded. I handed him the folder I had been given. Randy took it and waddled over to the sofa. He got himself situated and read through the file before narrowing his eyes and seeming to read it again. He smiled and shook his head. "Fucking brilliant Stephanie. Nothing like hiding things in plain sight."

I stayed quiet and let him finish his reading. When he looked up he was smiling grimly, "Tell her I'll get right on it. I might be moving around a bit so if she doesn't hear from me tell her not to worry."

I nodded, "I'll tell her."

I left Randy's apartment and headed out to my SUV. I was nearly there when I felt as if something was very off. I was searching my surroundings when my phone rang. I pulled it out and frowned as I saw Ranger's number show up. "Yo?"

It was Rafael's voice I heard, "Ram, whatever you do, don't touch your truck. I'm getting some weird vibes since you went inside. Dad's on his way with a team to dust the SUV."

"Thanks."

I could almost see the kid narrowing his eyes. I was floored as I heard the laugh, "Congratulations by the way. I think you are in for a couple of surprises this Christmas."

I had a feeling my secret was out. "Uh, listen…Jillian doesn't want anyone to know until Christmas."

Rafael chuckled, "Don't worry. I won't tell anyone." Suddenly he was serious again and directed me, "Look to your left. Back by the building with the towering parking garage. Do you recognize the person standing watching you?"

I couldn't help the laugh that escaped, "Rafael, How the hell you can see the bastard from the penthouse is beyond me but I don't see any…" Just then there was movement in the exact location he had described. In slow motion I saw the rifle come up and I dove for cover as the sound of a gun firing was heard. At just that moment there was a black Cayenne that came screaming into the lot and parked itself between myself and the shooter. The back door was opened and Ranger said, "Get in!"

I lost no time in climbing in the back and we were on our way. I put the phone up to my ear and said, "Thanks man! You may have just saved my life."

I could hear the smile in Rafael's voice as he said, "Don't mention it. You would have done the same for me."

He spoke the truth. I would do anything to protect that little boy. "I gotta go now kid. See you later little dude."

When I ended the call Ranger glanced in the rearview mirror and asked, "Who else do you have to talk with?"

"Only one left is Mooner. I got the file with me."

Ranger nodded, "We'll go together."

"Not that I'm not happy to see you but how did you know?"

Ranger grinned, "Same way you knew about the shooter before he came out of hiding."

I grinned, "Rafael."

Ranger nodded, "Rafael."

"I hope you get that kid whatever he wants for Christmas."

Ranger rolled his eye and I was stunned. My eyes widened as I looked at my boss and friend. Ranger shook his head, "He's not going to get everything he wants for Christmas but I'm sure he will get a good chunk of it."

We pulled up in front of Mooner's and I got out while Ranger remained in the Cayenne. When I knocked on the door Mooner was grinning ear to ear. "You made it just in time Dude. Alf just started."

I handed Mooner a folder and told him, "Steph needs you to take a look at this."

Mooner suddenly looked like a different man. He nodded and said, "Come in. Move over to the darkness of the room and don't touch anything." I did as he said and a few moments later he joined me. I was surprised by the intelligence starring back at me. Mooner took the file and read it, then he read it again and smiled, "Tell Steph that I'm ready. When she needs me I'll be ready."

I nodded and we said our goodbyes. I headed back out to the Cayenne and slipped into the front passenger seat. We headed back to Rangeman. Thinking back over the guys I met with today, none of them had changed that much. Randy and Mooner were still bachelors and the rest of the guys were married with families. I think the biggest surprise for me today was Mooner though. I got a glimpse of a totally new side of the man I'd never seen before. I looked out the window and was glad to see Rangeman. I was ready to be back at work.


	12. Seven Cars A Burning

**Disclaimer: The characters you recognize as J.E. are hers. Any other character is a figment of my imagination and any similarities to real persons is merely a coincidence**

This story is definitely AU. The characters have the same physical appearance as in J.E.'s books; however I have changed ages of some characters. This is a Babe HEA and Cupcake fans may not be happy as Joe is dead as are Frank and Helen Plum. The Plums as well as Joe are not portrayed favorably, they were bad characters in the original and references may be made in this story as to what their actions were in the original story. References may be made to any of the books in the series, so if you haven't read them all, you may want to wait to read this. That said…

_**I would like to thank all those who review as guests and those who have PMing turned off. I greatly appreciate all the reviews. Thank you to Vanessa Loor for translating my English into Spanish. Any mistakes are mine.**_

_On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
A Judas Among Us.  
On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Four False Alarms, Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Five New Clues…  
Four False Alarms, Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Six Allies Helping, Five New Clues…  
Four False Alarms, Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the seventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me,_

Chapter 12: Seven Cars A Burning

Cal's POV:

Well, here I was with just 5 more days till Christmas and I still had all my shopping left to do. I had been putting it off for the past three months. I had absolutely no idea what to get anybody. I had tried to get Barbara to do the shopping but it wasn't happening. We had been married for 6 months now and she was every bit a match for me. We met a little over 4 years ago and started out with a few dates. Then about 3 and ½ years ago we moved in together. I proposed that year at Christmas and she agreed. We were in no hurry to marry. We figured a piece of paper wouldn't make our love any more real than it already was. Then 6 and ½ months ago when Barbara went to the doctor because she had been feeling a little off, we learned she was going to have a baby. We talked for a long time and decided we wanted the baby born after we got married so we got busy planning a wedding.

Of course the baby might be another reason Barbara hadn't wanted to do our Christmas shopping. She was definitely showing at 8 months pregnant and the extra weight couldn't be comfortable carrying around. The best she had been willing to do was to write out a list of what we should look for. I had said list in my pocket with orders not to come home from work without the gifts. I sighed. There was no way I was getting out of this one. I made my way to the fifth floor and headed to the conference room where we had our morning meeting each day.

There were only a couple seats open and I took the one by Hector. He grinned when I sat down and I nudged him with my elbow. Hector asked me, "Como esta el bebe?" (How's the baby doing?)

I replied, "Creciendo. Barbara esta mas grande cada dia" (Growing. Barbara is getting bigger every day.)

"Es niño o niña?" (Is it a boy or girl?)

"Barb quiere que sea una sopresa asi que no sabemos." (Barb wants it to be a surprise so we didn't find out.)

"Yo gano la apuesta... tienes un niño" (I win pool…you have a boy.)

I turned to him and glared, "Estas apostandole a mi bebe?" (You are betting on my baby?)

"Solo la fecha de nacimiento, a que hora, el tamaño del bebe, y el sexo." (Just day born, time, size of baby, and sex.)

"Solo espera! Ya te llegara tu turno" (You wait man! Your turn's coming.)

Hector laughed, "no me interesan las mujeres hermano. no pienso tener hijos" (I'm not interested in women my brother. I don't plan on children.)

At that moment Ranger stepped into the room and he started the meeting. I noticed a change in the information coming from the meetings the past few days…since the new hires arrived. I had a feeling there was more going on here than what was on the surface. Ranger dismissed us and I went to get my assignment for the day. I looked at what was written on the paper and I couldn't fucking believe it. I flicked my gaze in Ranger's direction. He raised an eyebrow and although I didn't say anything I was guessing he somehow knew I had a lot of shopping to do. How else do you explain my getting sent to the mall to check out the stores. I sighed and headed out. It was going to be a long day.

I made it to the mall and forced myself inside. I fished out the list Barb gave me and started looking. I was a multitasker and would have no problem looking for the items on the list and keeping my eyes open for shoplifters. Three and a half hours later I made my way out to the SUV to stow the gifts I'd purchased in the back. I was thrilled I was all done shopping. Now I just needed to head back in and complete my shift at the mall. I had just turned and was walking back to the mall entrance when I got a hinky feeling and turned to survey the area around me. I changed directions and headed for the cover of my vehicle when there was an explosion. I felt the heat around me and two more cars went up in flames. I found nothing that could be causing the vehicles to go up in flames.

Just as I was debating my next move my phone rang. I knew who was on the other end before I even answered. "Hey Rafael. What can you tell me?"

"You have to get out of there. The cars going up are the five around your SUV. It will go as well."

"Shit! I just put all the gifts in the back."

"You don't have time to get them out. You must head to the mall entrance now!"

I didn't even have to think about what my next action would be. I took off running for the mall entrance and had barely gotten to the safety zone when the other two cars and my SUV went up in flames. The sirens told me the fire trucks were on their way. I turned on reaching safety and sighed. All that trouble to find just the right gifts and all that work was down the toilet. When I got a hold of this guy I was going to ring his neck.

The firemen weren't sure which vehicle to start on first. There were 6 cars blazing in the parking lot and each one held the potential for even worse damage to come. I saw the black SUV's pulling into the lot and made my way out to where the guys were setting up a perimeter. I already knew what they were going to find. No human started those cars burning.

_So…any ideas as to who or what caused the cars to go up in flames?_


	13. Eight Guns a Blazing

**Disclaimer: The characters you recognize as J.E. are hers. Any other character is a figment of my imagination and any similarities to real persons is merely a coincidence**

This story is definitely AU. The characters have the same physical appearance as in J.E.'s books; however I have changed ages of some characters. This is a Babe HEA and Cupcake fans may not be happy as Joe is dead as are Frank and Helen Plum. The Plums as well as Joe are not portrayed favorably, they were bad characters in the original and references may be made in this story as to what their actions were in the original story. References may be made to any of the books in the series, so if you haven't read them all, you may want to wait to read this. That said…

_**I would like to thank all those who review as guests and those who have PMing turned off. I greatly appreciate all the reviews. **_

_On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
A Judas Among Us.  
On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Four False Alarms, Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Five New Clues…  
Four False Alarms, Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Six Allies Helping, Five New Clues…  
Four False Alarms, Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the seventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Seven Cars A Burning, Six Allies Helping, Five New Clues…  
Four False Alarms, Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the eighth day of Christmas my true love gave to me,_

Chapter 13: Eight Guns a Blazing

Vince's POV:

When my alarm went off I reached out to shut it off before it could wake up Monique. I took a few minutes to just lay there on my side watching my wife of two years as she slept. She was as beautiful today as the day I met her and fell in love. I smiled as I remembered the day we met. I had gone into Pino's to pick up an order for Stephanie and take back to Rangeman and I ran into Monique, literally. She had been carrying a tray of drinks to a table and when I ran into her the drinks spilled down the front of me as well as her. She took a stance, put her hands on her hips and glared at me demanding 'What the hell are you doing? Dude, seriously I can't believe you just did that!"

I made the mistake of smiling and lordy what a temper my little spit fire had on her. Her beautiful hazel eyes flashed fire and she shot daggers my direction with her eyes as she flounced to the back room to try and clean up. I couldn't help the grin on my face as I made my way to the counter and picked up Steph's order. I had paid for the order and turned to go when The red-headed spitfire came barreling out of the kitchen and glared at me. She pointed her finger at me and told me to stop right there. Then she came over and stood toe to toe with me and told me I owed her a new silk blouse since I had ruined the one she was wearing.

I bit my cheek to keep from laughing as I told her I never bought clothes for a woman before our first date. She narrowed her eyes and held my gaze for several long seconds before giving a nod and saying, "Fine, you can pick me up Friday at 6." Then she wrote down something on her order pad and tore off the paper and handed it to me. She tossed her head and said, "I'll expect you to pick someplace dressy to take me to and you better make sure they know how to cook."

I accepted the paper from her and took note that it had her address on it. I gave her a mock salute and headed back to Rangeman with Stephanie's order. When I handed her the bag she took it with a wrinkled up nose. "Did you take a bath in a brewery before you brought me this?"

I chuckled, "There was a little accident when I entered Pino's. The waitress and I collided and she spilt her drinks on me."

Stephanie laughed, "I hope you apologized."

My eyes widened, "Why should I apologize?"

Steph put her hand on my cheek and said, "Because it's the gentlemanly thing to do."

I shook my head. "She demanded I buy her a new silk blouse."

Stephanie raised an eyebrow to me and asked, "And what did you say to that?"

"I told her I never bought clothes for a woman before our first date."

Stephanie laughed. "Let me guess…you are taking her out sometime this weekend."

I nodded. "Friday night at 6."

Stephanie looked at me with an unfocused look for several moments before she smiled and winked at me. "I know you'll have a great time."

She was right. I had a great time and I knew from the moment I took her home that she was the woman for me. My beautiful wife was a spitfire from the get go and I wouldn't change a thing that had happened in the past three years. I reached out and cupped my hand on her rounded belly and knowing our child rested there gave me a warm feeling in my heart. I saw Monique's eyes flicker open and she smiled. I leaned over and kissed her with all the love I could pour into the kiss. I pulled back and leaned my forehead against hers and stayed like that for several moments before sighing and climbing from the bed.

Just as I turned to go, she clutched my hand and said, "Be careful today. I had a dream that you were surrounded by guns going off."

I leaned over and kissed her again before saying, "I'll be careful. You be careful too."

She grinned and winked. "I intend to go back to sleep and have a lazy day."

I grinned before turning and made my way into the bathroom to shower and dress for the day. When I came back out Monique was asleep so I smiled and headed out. I made it to Haywood in no time and managed to find a seat in the conference room before they were all taken. When I checked my assignment for the day I was pleased to find I was on Bomber detail. When the meeting was over, I headed out to see where I would be taking Stephanie. She was just coming out of Ranger's office. She was carrying Katie and Rafael was beside her.

I grinned at her and said, "Looks like I get Bomber detail today. Where are we heading?"

Stephanie smiled, "Katie has a Dr.'s appointment today. We were supposed to go last Friday but the Dr. had an emergency cesarean to perform."

Stephanie got a sad, far-away look in her eyes and I wondered what she might be thinking about. Rafael seemed to be attuned to his mother's mood and slipped his hand in her's and there was a glow to them. Steph turned and gently squeezed Rafe's hand as she winked at him. She lifted her gaze to me and I gave her a gentle hug. We headed out and I fastened Katie in the back with Rafael beside her and then slid into the driver's seat. We made it to the doctor's office and I helped them inside. In no time she was called back and I went with and stood guard outside the door. Once the doctor had exited, I waited for them to join me and while Stephanie stopped to talk with the receptionist, I scanned the waiting room. I saw it was all clear and so when Steph was ready we headed out.

We were nearly to the SUV when Rafael stopped and put his hand up to stop us as well. He searched the area and the look in his eyes scared the shit out of me. I was glad that kid was on my side and I planned_ never_ to cross him. Without looking away from a point in the distance he said, "We need to find cover."

I searched quickly and said, "This way."

I led them to a building a few steps away that would afford us cover as well as it was monitored by Rangeman. When we reached the entrance I stepped back and used a special hand signal to let the guys know we needed help and that there was trouble. I had just got everyone in the building when a shot rang out and one of the windows shattered. I ducked down and the others followed suit. I led them to a special doorway that I knew would lead us to and underground space where no gunman would be able to get to them. Just to make sure we had backup coming I pressed my panic button on my key ring. SOP when you were on Bomber duty was if you got in a situation you better damn well make sure you called the boss if _anything_ happened.

I got Stephanie and the kids to safety and was about to go check things out when Rafael put his hand on my arm. He looked into my eyes and said, "You need to stay here. The real danger is coming at us. Momma will need you to take Katie so we can deal with it."

I nodded. If there is one thing I knew it was that Rafael was always right. If he said I was needed here, then even though there was no threat at this moment I knew it was just a matter of time. Sure enough, about 15 minutes later a door opened up and something walked in. Stephanie handed Katie to me and the look in her eyes told me she trusted me to protect her daughter. Stephanie stepped forward with Rafael beside her and the room suddenly became uncomfortably warm. Lightening split the air and my eyes narrowed as I watched two people that I loved deeply do battle with some type of evil.

The man before us…at least he gave the appearance of being a human male even though he was paler than I had ever seen anyone look before. His eyes gave off a red light and looking at him made my skin crawl. I felt a gentle probing and suddenly I felt warm inside. It was like I was being touched by angels with fluttering wings. With a sudden calm I had never achieved before I turned and watched the three people before me. Two of them much loved members of my family and the other a stranger that I knew was evil. I saw the blows connect and I clenched my jaw, wanting to do more to protect Steph and Rafe. The pale, ghost of a man turned to me and started forward. His gaze was locked on me and I knew in that moment it was the baby in my arms he was after. I stiffened and determined if it was the last thing I did he wasn't getting to Katie while I had life left in me.

I saw him raise his arm and point towards me as he leaned his head back and he pulled his arm back and then thrust it towards me. I had my gun in my hand and emptied the clip into his skull, right between his evil eyes. I turned to protect the baby with my body and although I felt the blow, it had no effect on me. Suddenly the room grew even hotter and lightning bolts were going everywhere. Rafael stepped forward, narrowed his eyes and waved his hand as if he were dismissing something of no importance. Suddenly whatever that white thing with the red eyes was in front of us screamed in terror and shriveled to the ground and turned to charred ashes.

Rafael turned to me and said, "The others are here but there is trouble waiting. We must go so we can help them."

I handed Katie back to Stephanie and we headed back to the front entrance of the building. I could see the guys were under cover and bullets were flying at them. I searched and picked out Ranger, Tank, Phil, Bobby, Derry, Lester and Sam. That meant with me we had eight of us against them. I more than liked those odds. Rafael pointed to an area behind the reception desk and I nodded. I was ready to go but he spoke in my ear and what he told me gave me pause. I nodded and made sure they were safe before I headed out to help the guys that were pinned down. I found myself beside Ranger.

Ranger turned to me, "Stephanie and the children?"

"They're safe."

Ranger nodded, "I'm going to slip around behind these guys. Cover me."

I nodded and took out my back up weapon and opened fire making sure to keep the person I now knew wasn't what he wanted us to think he was. Suddenly Ranger popped up behind the gunman and all hell broke loose. I knew I needed to quickly reload and all eight of us were firing at the enemy. I saw the Judas taking aim at Ranger and I opened fire in that direction causing him to dive for cover. When the smoke cleared, Ranger had three men in handcuffs and he was herding them in our direction. I noticed the looks the men sent towards the Judas and suddenly all the hair on the back of my neck stood on end. I lost no time in saying, "Duck for cover!"

Once again the sound of bullets hit the air and we were all returning fire. All except the Judas. It was over again in minutes. The three men in handcuffs lay on the ground dead and those firing on us were running. I looked at my friends and knew we had just had a taste of what was to come. I took a deep breath and determined I was going to be ready. Ranger, Tank, Lester and I looked at each other and I knew we were thinking the same thing. We each gave a small nod and then we made our way inside to where Steph was with the kids. Ranger helped her up and we protectively took her out to the Cayenne and Ranger drove her back to Rangeman with us following close behind.


	14. Nine Ladies Glowing

**Disclaimer: The characters you recognize as J.E. are hers. Any other character is a figment of my imagination and any similarities to real persons is merely a coincidence**

This story is definitely AU. The characters have the same physical appearance as in J.E.'s books; however I have changed ages of some characters. This is a Babe HEA and Cupcake fans may not be happy as Joe is dead as are Frank and Helen Plum. The Plums as well as Joe are not portrayed favorably, they were bad characters in the original and references may be made in this story as to what their actions were in the original story. References may be made to any of the books in the series, so if you haven't read them all, you may want to wait to read this. That said…

_**I would like to thank all those who review as guests and those who have PMing turned off. I greatly appreciate all the reviews. **_

_On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
A Judas Among Us.  
On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Four False Alarms, Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Five New Clues…  
Four False Alarms, Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Six Allies Helping, Five New Clues…  
Four False Alarms, Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the seventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Seven Cars A Burning, Six Allies Helping, Five New Clues…  
Four False Alarms, Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the eighth day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Eight Guns a Blazing, Seven Cars A Burning, Six Allies Helping, Five New Clues…  
Four False Alarms, Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the ninth day of Christmas my true love gave to me,_

Chapter 14: Nine Ladies Glowing

Hal's POV:

I stepped out of my apartment on 4 and headed for the stairs. I was on my way to the store to pick up Janie from her shift so we could do some Christmas shopping. We had a lot of shopping left to do but neither of us wanted to shop without the other. It took me less than 10 minutes to reach the clothing store where Janie worked as a designer. I found a parking space close to the front door and made my way inside. I smiled as I zeroed in on Janie as she was talking to her boss and friend Marci. As I watched, Janie turned and her smile lit up the room. I watched as she maneuvered her wheelchair over to where I was standing. I smiled down at her before leaning down and kissing her with all the love and passion inside me.

Janie's voice was breathless as she asked, "Are you ready to do some shopping?"

"Yes. But I don't think we have nearly enough time to get everything done before the Christmas Party tonight."

Janie winked at me, "I already passed out 9 of the gifts."

I raised an eyebrow and she started giggling. "Just to 9 of the ladies. After all, they really needed to come in and try their gift on so I knew if it would fit or not."

I grinned knowing which 9 presents she had already passed out. "I think the guys will appreciate the gift as much as the ladies."

Janie grinned and we headed out. I drove us to Quaker Bridge Mall where we spent the better part of three hours shopping for the guys and their families. I paid extra to make sure the gifts were wrapped with the name tags on the gift and ready to go before we left the stores. Of course I had to make several trips out to the car to get them all in the SUV. It was a good thing there would be lots of guys to help in getting the gifts from the garage to the third floor ball room where the party would take place. When we had all our shopping done I carried the last of the wrapped gifts out to the SUV as Janie wheeled herself beside me. Although I would have preferred her to wait and let me help her out to the car, she refused to allow anyone to treat her as an invalid. Although she knows my intentions were not to imply she wasn't capable, she needed to assert her independence.

I stored the gifts in the back and then lifted Janie into the passenger seat before storing her chair in the back as well. I drove us back to the Rangeman building and as I pulled into the garage I called upstairs to get some willing hands to help. In no time the guys had the SUV unloaded and had taken the gifts to the party room. I got the chair out of the back and lifted Janie from the car to the chair. We headed for our apartment on 4 as we had only half an hour in which to get ready before the party.

I allowed Janie the use of the bathroom first and 20 minutes later she came out dressed and ready to go. I quickly used my allotted 10 minutes to shower and get ready myself. We headed out the door with 30 seconds to spare. We made our way to the elevator and rode down to the third floor. When we exited and made our way to the entrance for the party, we were greeted by Ranger and Stephanie.

Steph smiled at Janie and bent to hug her. "I love what you did for the ladies Janie. That was a wonderful idea."

Janie grinned, "I hope no one is upset that some got to open their gifts early."

Steph laughed, "Not at all. The ladies are thrilled and you know the guys are happy with anything that makes their wives happy."

Janie grinned. We spent a few more minutes talking before Steph encouraged us to find something to snack on and let us know dinner would be served in another half hour. We headed for the Hors d'oeuvres table and nibbled on the delicious morsels that were set out for the party. We talked with several of the others and the ladies kept coming and thanking Janie for the beautiful dress claiming it was just perfect. When the dinner buffet was finally brought out we filled our plates and took our seats. There was laughter and more murmured conversation as everyone ate their dinner. Waiters had been hired for the evening and our plates were cleared as we finished them and everyone was encouraged to go back for more. By the time we all had our fill it was getting close to 9 p.m. Suddenly Santa was making his way to his thrown and all the children we clambering to get closer. Once the gifts were passed out to everyone and we'd all opened them, Stephanie asked Janie over and she and all the other women were in conversation for several moments.

Janie wheeled herself over to the piano and began to play. The rest of the ladies followed behind her and arranged themselves in a semicircle around the piano. Then the Christmas Carols started and we all watched with loving smiles as our hearts stood there singing about the birth of Jesus and having a Merry Christmas. For the last song Steph stepped a little forward and the nine women who were obviously pregnant stood behind her as the other ladies sat back down. Janie played the opening strains of There's A New Kid In Town and Steph started it and the others joined in. Such a beautiful song and the way the women performed the song was breathtaking.

As they neared the end of the song it seemed as if the nine women standing behind Stephanie were glowing. It was unbelievably beautiful. The radiant look on my Janie's face as she had it lifted to the sky moved me beyond words and I knew the rest of the guys were equally affected. Rafael walked over to my Janie and placed his small hand on her leg and he smiled at her. Janie bent down to him and kissed his cheek. I couldn't hear what he said to her in response but there was a stunned look of hope in Janie's eyes. I made a note to ask Rafe what it was he had said. The party seemed to break up after that, with everyone heading off to their own homes. Janie wheeled herself over to me and we headed to the elevator to go up one floor and headed to our apartment. I carried our gifts and in no time we were home and I was holding my Janie in my arms.


	15. Ten Lightning Bolts

**Disclaimer: The characters you recognize as J.E. are hers. Any other character is a figment of my imagination and any similarities to real persons is merely a coincidence**

This story is definitely AU. The characters have the same physical appearance as in J.E.'s books; however I have changed ages of some characters. This is a Babe HEA and Cupcake fans may not be happy as Joe is dead as are Frank and Helen Plum. The Plums as well as Joe are not portrayed favorably, they were bad characters in the original and references may be made in this story as to what their actions were in the original story. References may be made to any of the books in the series, so if you haven't read them all, you may want to wait to read this. That said…

_**I would like to thank all those who review as guests and those who have PMing turned off. I greatly appreciate all the reviews. Thanks to Vanessa Loor who once again helped to translate my English into Spanish. Any mistakes are mine. **_

_On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
A Judas Among Us.  
On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Four False Alarms, Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Five New Clues…  
Four False Alarms, Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Six Allies Helping, Five New Clues…  
Four False Alarms, Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the seventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Seven Cars A Burning, Six Allies Helping, Five New Clues…  
Four False Alarms, Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the eighth day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Eight Guns a Blazing, Seven Cars A Burning, Six Allies Helping, Five New Clues…  
Four False Alarms, Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the ninth day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Nine Ladies Glowing, Eight Guns a Blazing, Seven Cars a Burning,  
Six Allies Helping, Five New Clues…  
Four False Alarms, Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the tenth day of Christmas my true love gave to me,_

Chapter 15: Ten Lightning Bolts

Hector's POV:

I turned over and opened my eyes when I encountered a body that should not be in my apartment. I pulled the knife I always kept at my side and lifted my head to look at who was in bed beside me. My eyes narrowed as I took in the features of the beautiful man. When my gaze reached his face I saw him lying there silently watching me. He smiled and asked, "Supongo que me vas a decir que no sabes quien soy?" (I suppose you are going to tell me you don't know who I am?)

I raised an eyebrow and just stared at him.

He rolled his eyes, "Mi nombre es Micha Alderon y nos conocimos anoche en la barra. Nos tomamos unos cuantos tragos y me invitaste aca para disfrutarnos. Y dejame decirte que creo todo lo que me dijiste. Me has arruinado para alguien mas." (My name is Micha Alderon and we met at the bar last night. We had a few drinks and you asked me back here so we could enjoy ourselves. And just let me tell you I believe everything you said. You were absolutely right when you told me you would ruin me for anyone else.)

I locked gazes with him, "Te tienes que ir ahora." (You have to go now.)

He grinned, "Que, usualmente no invitas a hombres a tu hogar?" (What, don't you normally invite guys to your place?)

I shrugged before admitting, "no si lo puedo evitar." (Not if I can help it.)

He stood without bothering to cover himself and I hated to admit it but he was a magnificent piece of manhood. He looked right at me and said, "Estare listo cuando me quieras llamar. Espero saber de ti de nuevo." (I'll be ready anytime you call me. I look forward to hearing from you again.)

I glared at him, "No lo esperes." (Don't hold your breath.)

Once he left I made my way into the bathroom to shower. I skipped my workout this morning having woken late and not wanting to be late for work. I was ready inside 15 minutes and I headed up to 5 for the morning meeting. I slipped in and took a seat and waited for the others to arrive. As I sat there waiting Hal walked in. I noticed the sparkle in his eye and felt good for my friend. He sat down between Cal and me. Cal leaned forward and said, "Hey Hal, that was an awesome dress Janie gave Barb. She was so thrilled with it. And did you see how beautiful those ladies were last night?"

Hal smiled and turned to Cal. "Janie's an Angel. She wanted to give each of the ladies that are having babies a beautiful dress as our gift to them this year. She chose well."

Bobby laid a hand on Hal's shoulder, "That was definitely a wonderful gift Hal. Lexi was thrilled. She must have looked at a dozen dresses and none of them were right. But that dress made her glow."

"I'm glad she liked it. She really looked beautiful last night, as did all the others."

Cal nodded, "Barb loved her dress."

Binkie joined the group and he stopped to say, "Cherry was thrilled with that dress Hal. It made her glow."

Tom and Manny joined the group and Tom stopped to say, "Connie was thrilled with the dress."

Manny nodded, "So was Laura. You guys did great."

Hal's smile just got bigger. Erik, Ram and Vince all joined our group and each stopped to tell Hal what a lovely dress their wives had gotten and thanked him. Amazing what these guys got excited over. Ranger finally joined our group and I knew the meeting would be starting soon. Hal's phone rang and he quickly answered it. I shamelessly eavesdropped. What can I say? I was trying to pick up this language and there was no better way than listening and trying to figure out what people were saying. By listening I was able to learn the nuances of the conversation and use that skill while listening to the conversations on the wire taps.

"Hello?" After a pause he continued, "I'm glad you enjoyed the dress Lainey. You looked beautiful in it last night." Another pause and then, "Are you sure Lainey? Eric hasn't said anything about Beth." He listened and then smiled tenderly. "You all looked beautiful standing up there glowing. Now I know why. All nine of you ladies glowed: Lexi, Cherry, Connie, Beth, Jillian, Barb, Monique, Laura and you as well. Now I know why. So many babies to come in the New Year." Hal listened for a couple minutes more and then said, "Love you too sis."

He closed his phone just in time to look up and see Ranger drilling him with a look. Hal blushed and said, "Sorry sir. Lainey called about the dress and…" Hal winced and stopped talking. I saw the tell on Ranger's face as he turned and continued with the meeting and knew he was fighting a smile.

I nudged Hal with my boot and gave him the hand signal that all was okay. He grinned and we turned to listen to Ranger. Just as Ranger was finishing up I felt a hinky feeling and let my gaze roam over the room to see where danger might be coming from. I felt a zing as my gaze passed over Derry and I paused. When I moved to Phil there was another zing. Again I moved on and when my gaze locked on Sam the zing returned. Which one…or all three? Just then Rafael came into the room and we all came to attention.

Rafael spoke to Ranger, "Papa, hay peligro cerca." (Dad, there is danger near.)

Ranger's eyes narrowed and he asked, "Sabes de donde viene?" (Do you know where it is coming from?)

Rafael paused for a moment and replied, "Nos estan probando. Van a ir tras Momma y Katie." (They are testing us. They will target Momma and Katie.)

Rafael looked around, his gaze stopping on each of the new guys before returning to his Dad's. I could see the questions in Ranger's eyes but instead of voicing them he laid a hand on Rafael's shoulder and there was a glow that was almost blinding. When the glow diminished Ranger nodded and he turned to us. Bobby, Lester, Tank, Woody, Ram, Cal, Hal, Vince, Hector! Let's go. The rest of you remain here."

We were up and running. The new guys went to follow so I got in there way and said, "Stay."

It looked like they might be wanting to argue but Erik moved over to us and said, "Ya lo tengo hombre. Te necesitan en otro lugar." (I got this man. You're needed elsewhere.)

I nodded and sent one of my 'I'd rather kill you than talk to you looks their way and as I turned to go I replied, "Gracias hombre. Hasta luego." (Thanks man. Later.)

I made my way to where Ranger and the others were going and we all managed to get to the penthouse at the same time that something hit the building. We heard Stephanie scream and we lost no time getting inside to her. She was standing there holding Katie and it was like a vortex was trying to take the baby from her arms. We all stepped forward and built the box as Rafael had taught us. We linked our arms and stood against whatever was coming and no matter what we would not let them take either of them. Rafael slipped inside so he could help his Momma. Stephanie turned her head at the force hitting her and I saw her grip loosen on Katie. At that moment Rodriguez came into the apartment and hurried over. He ducked under where our arms were linked and went to enfold Katie in his arms. Ranger joined him and enfolded Stephanie in his arms and Rafael took up a stance in front of all of them.

Suddenly it got very warm and the wind started blowing. Although it looked like whatever was attacking them was getting stronger, it was instead growing weaker. Suddenly lightning bolts danced through the air. Not just one or two, but ten distinctive lightning bolts dancing through the air hitting out at where the force was emanating from that tried to take Katie from Stephanie. As the lightning bolts danced and struck, we heard the screams coming from some other dimension. Finally the force weakened even more and as suddenly as it started it ended. Stephanie, Ranger, Rafael, Katie and Rodriguez were standing in the middle. Many men feared me, but in that moment looking at Rafael I felt myself shiver at the look on his face. I was glad he was on my side. That kid scared the shit out of me. Those bastards better hope they met up with us instead of that little man, because they would get no mercy from him. They had fucked with his family and I could see the monster he was about to set loose on them. As I said, that kid scared the shit out of me.


	16. Eleven Planners Planning

**Disclaimer: The characters you recognize as J.E. are hers. Any other character is a figment of my imagination and any similarities to real persons is merely a coincidence**

This story is definitely AU. The characters have the same physical appearance as in J.E.'s books; however I have changed ages of some characters. This is a Babe HEA and Cupcake fans may not be happy as Joe is dead as are Frank and Helen Plum. The Plums as well as Joe are not portrayed favorably, they were bad characters in the original and references may be made in this story as to what their actions were in the original story. References may be made to any of the books in the series, so if you haven't read them all, you may want to wait to read this. That said…

_**I would like to thank all those who review as guests and those who have PMing turned off. I greatly appreciate all the reviews. **_

_On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
A Judas Among Us.  
On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Four False Alarms, Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Five New Clues…  
Four False Alarms, Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Six Allies Helping, Five New Clues…  
Four False Alarms, Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the seventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Seven Cars A Burning, Six Allies Helping, Five New Clues…  
Four False Alarms, Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the eighth day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Eight Guns a Blazing, Seven Cars A Burning, Six Allies Helping, Five New Clues…  
Four False Alarms, Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the ninth day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Nine Ladies Glowing, Eight Guns a Blazing, Seven Cars a Burning,  
Six Allies Helping, Five New Clues…  
Four False Alarms, Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the tenth day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Ten Lightning Bolts, Nine Ladies Glowing, Eight Guns a Blazing, Seven Cars a Burning,  
Six Allies Helping, Five New Clues…  
Four False Alarms, Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the Eleventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me,_

Chapter 16: Eleven Planners Planning

Manny's POV:

I woke up to a wet, sloppy tongue licking at my face and lost no time in pushing the tongue away from my face. The giggle told me there was a human behind the wet doggy kiss I'd just gotten and I lifted my closed eyelids enough to see my beautiful wife of 10 months kneeling on the bed beside me holding a small bundle of fur. When my eyes met hers I saw the mischievous look in her eyes and I took hold of her waist and twisted so she was lying on her back on the bed and I was leaning over her. Of course the little fur ball she was holding took this to mean it was play time and started licking anywhere it could. I couldn't help but laugh and got a dog tongue in my mouth for my efforts. Laura was laughing so hard at this I thought she might pee her pants but her bladder was stronger than I gave it credit for being.

I slipped out of bed and leaned over to kiss my beautiful wife and the puppy's tongue kisses failed to register anymore. When the alarm went off I knew I was down to ten minutes to get ready before I had to leave for work. I reluctantly pulled back after giving Laura a final kiss and told her, "Remember where we left off and we can pick it back up again tonight."

She smiled and replied, "I'm going to hold you to that."

I headed in to shower and dress. When I came back into the bedroom Laura was sound asleep with the puppy we had just gotten three weeks ago. I shook my head as I looked at the Alaskan Malamute that she had talked me into buying. I smiled as I watched the two of them and in the end, all that mattered was that she was happy. I turned and headed for the door. It didn't take me long to reach Rangeman. On my way I noticed that Erik and Tom were on their way as well. I knew today was going to be a long day. There was a major planning session going on today and we all knew there was a fight coming tomorrow. However it wouldn't be anywhere near as involved as the major battle headed our way before the year ended.

I pulled into the garage and noticed several of the other guys arriving as well. We headed for the stairs and the sound was reminiscent of when we were double timing it going upstairs when I was in the service. When we spilled out on 5 I could see the heads of the guys working lift to check out the noise. We headed into the Conference Room and I smiled to see there were doughnuts from the Tasty Pastry there on the table as well as coffee. Just as I reached for one of my favorites Stephanie walked into the room and said, "There better be a Boston Cream for me."

I hid my smile as I took my own cream filled Long John and poured a cup of coffee before taking my seat. I took a huge bite and closed my eyes to chew in delight as the flavor filled my mouth. I was a little surprised to see Stephanie join us for our morning meeting. I watched her grab a Boston Cream and some coffee before taking her usual seat beside Ranger. As I ate I watched as the rest of the guys filed in and when the three new guys entered, I as well as the rest of the guys tensed up. There was something off about them and I wasn't sure what exactly it was. Ranger joined us and he conducted the meeting much as he normally did.

I looked around at the rest of the guys and I frowned as I noticed Woody was absent. I knew he was one of Ranger's go to guys when there was a fight and wondered where he might be. My attention refocused on what was being said when Ranger dismissed the group as a whole but asked a few of us to stay. Since I was one of the ones staying I just stayed where I was and waited for the rest of the guys to file out. As soon as the door closed behind the last man the shades came down and Ranger pressed the button that made the Conference Room into a War Room.

"What we discuss in this room does not go beyond these walls. It might mean the difference between a win and a loss and we all know we can't afford a loss. A loss could mean losing members of our family."

We all nodded. We knew what the stakes were. Stephanie stepped forward and handed us each a device. As she handed them out she told us, "Memorize this information. It might save your life."

When she stopped in front of me our eyes locked, "If any of you want to bow out for any reason you can. No questions asked. But know this. As of today all of you will have to move into Rangeman. We'll be using the bunker that was built for just this kind of situation. There's plenty of room for everyone. But once we are all here, there will be no leaving till this is over."

I frowned wondering if we'd be able to bring Sassy with us. Just as I was getting ready to ask the question, Steph put her hand on my shoulder and smiled, "Your pets will be welcomed."

I grinned. I was glad for that. For the next three hours Stephanie and Ranger filled us in on the plan. At several points they asked our advice and if we had anything to add. When we left the room, we were all on our way home to bring our families here. Just before I left Stephanie put her hand on my shoulder and said, "It will be fun for the children to have a puppy to play with. I'll talk to Louis and see if he can set something up for the puppy to go outside and still be protected."

I smiled, "Thanks Steph."

With that I was on my way home to get my family. As I reached the elevator on my way to the stairwell, the elevator doors opened and Woody stepped out with Steph's Grandma Mazur on his arm. I smiled and sent a prayer up that it was him and not me that had the honor of picking up the old lady.


	17. Twelve Guardians of Power

**Disclaimer: The characters you recognize as J.E. are hers. Any other character is a figment of my imagination and any similarities to real persons is merely a coincidence**

This story is definitely AU. The characters have the same physical appearance as in J.E.'s books; however I have changed ages of some characters. This is a Babe HEA and Cupcake fans may not be happy as Joe is dead as are Frank and Helen Plum. The Plums as well as Joe are not portrayed favorably, they were bad characters in the original and references may be made in this story as to what their actions were in the original story. References may be made to any of the books in the series, so if you haven't read them all, you may want to wait to read this. That said…

_**I would like to thank all those who review as guests and those who have PMing turned off. I greatly appreciate all the reviews. **_

_On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
A Judas Among Us.  
On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Four False Alarms, Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Five New Clues…  
Four False Alarms, Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Six Allies Helping, Five New Clues…  
Four False Alarms, Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the seventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Seven Cars A Burning, Six Allies Helping, Five New Clues…  
Four False Alarms, Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the eighth day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Eight Guns a Blazing, Seven Cars A Burning, Six Allies Helping, Five New Clues…  
Four False Alarms, Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the ninth day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Nine Ladies Glowing, Eight Guns a Blazing, Seven Cars a Burning,  
Six Allies Helping, Five New Clues…  
Four False Alarms, Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the tenth day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Ten Lightning Bolts, Nine Ladies Glowing, Eight Guns a Blazing, Seven Cars a Burning,  
Six Allies Helping, Five New Clues…  
Four False Alarms, Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the Eleventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Eleven Planners Planning, Ten Lightning Bolts, Nine Ladies Glowing, Eight Guns a Blazing,  
Seven Cars a Burning, Six Allies Helping, Five New Clues…  
Four False Alarms, Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me,_

Chapter 17: Twelve Guardians of Power

Grandma Mazur's POV:

I woke up to a pounding at my door and wondered who the heck could be waking me up at…I looked at the alarm and my eyes widened in shock. It was 3 a.m. in the morning. I sat up on the side of my bed and slipped my feet into slippers before heading to the front door. I paused before leaving my bedroom and decided to put my robe on before going to see who was on the other side. I smiled thinking how much fun it would be if I skipped the robe instead. My grin widened as I pictured one of them hunks that worked for Ranger on the other side getting a good view of my birthday suit. I was just about to belt the robe when an imp made me leave it undone. After all, you only live once and an old lady had to get her fun where she could. I made my way to the front door and pulled it open.

The young red head on the other side had his hand raised as if he were about to knock again. He was glaring and looked like he had a whole head of steam he was ready to let loose with. I smiled my toothless smile at him and asked, "What can I do you for Sonny?"

He took one look at me and boy did he get an eyeful. His eyes bugged out and he said, "Geez lady, put some clothes on why don't you. What are you trying to do, make me go blind?"

I put my hands on my hips pulling back the robe on either side to give him a better look and said, "You're the one interrupting my sleep. Get on with it Sonny Boy!"

He turned so he wasn't looking directly at me and my eyes gleamed as he presented his backside to me. I couldn't help myself and reached out and pinched that nice tight ass in front of me. The young red head jumped as if he'd just got the shock of his life and turned to give me a dirty look. I just smiled and sent him one of those finger waves Stephanie always used. His voice spoke of barely leashed anger when he spoke, "I'm trying to sleep but it sounds like an earthquake is happening with that snoring you're doing. Some of us need to work later this morning and some sleep would be a little nice. Cut out the noise Granny!"

My eyes narrowed at his rude attitude. "Listen here_ Sonny_…I may be old but I still have feelings and I need my sleep just as much as you. I can't help that I snore. You don't like it, put in some ear plugs. Now kindly leave and go back to your own apartment before I call Ranger and tell him about your rude attitude."

Just then the young red head in front of me paled and backed hurriedly away. He seemed to trip on the air and went down. He managed to get himself up and tripped again. I shook my head as I watched him pick himself up only to fall again over and over again down the hall to the apartment at the far end of the hall. I smiled and raised my head to the ceiling. I winked and thought to myself, "Thank you Rafael."

I could swear I heard a child's laugh and a, 'You're welcome Grandma.'

I went back to my bed and lay back under the covers. I lay there for several minutes thinking about the past four years and all the changes that had come to my life. It was never boring. I had many honorary grandchildren and great grandchildren and there were many more coming. I smiled as I thought of how Steph's Merry Men had learned the way to tame these roaming hands. Lester had shown them the way when he adopted me as his Grandma and they saw how I never tried to feel him up or pinch his ass and of course Stephanie had dibs on Ranger and I couldn't get my hands on his fine backside. I still remember the tears it brought to my eyes when Tank and Lula asked me if I would be Great Grandma to their little Lillie. I was touched and felt such honor. It wasn't long after when one by one the rest of the Rangemen asked me to adopt them as well. I sighed as I turned onto my side. I might be losing out on getting my hands on them but I more than made up with it in the love I received from all my family. I knew I would never be lonely with all of them around me.

Stephanie's POV:

I woke when Ranger slipped from our bed to head to the gym. I smiled and said, "If you'll wait a minute I'll go with you."

Ranger turned and our eyes met, "Are you sure you want to do that?"

I nodded. "We're going to have a long day and we're going to need all of our senses on high alert. A good work out will help."

Ranger nodded. "Shall I call Ella to come sit with the children?"

Just then Rafael walked into the bedroom, "I'm ready to go. We can take Katie with us. I'll watch her for you."

Ranger grinned at Rafael and gave a nod. I waited till they headed out of the bedroom before slipping from the bed and pulling on my work out clothes. When I joined them a few minutes later I saw Ranger was holding Katie. I placed my hand in his and the four of us headed down to the gym. I set Katie in a bouncy seat on one of the mats and Rafael sat down beside her and smiled up at me, "Don't worry Momma. I'll watch her while I do my exercises on the mat."

I lay my hand on his head and smiled at him, "Thank you son. I love you."

He grinned back at me and winked. "Love you too Momma."

I went to do my own warm ups and then went to the treadmill beside Ranger. When we finished our workouts, I felt alert and ready for anything. Ranger and I headed over to the mat and sat down beside the children. Rafael stood and grinned as he headed off to do his own workout now that we were back to keep an eye on Katie. When he returned we all headed back to the penthouse and showered and dressed for the day. Once we ate breakfast and Ranger went to head to 5, I felt something odd in the air. Before Ranger could walk out of the room I turned to Rafael and saw his gaze was on some distant point. He turned and said, "We need to go with Dad."

I nodded. I had felt it to. I called down to Ella and when she picked up I told her, "We need everyone to move to the bunker."

Ella paused only for a moment and then she said, "I'll get started on it right now. Do you need me to take Katie with me?"

"No. We have that covered already. I need your help in keeping all the ladies calm and relaxed though so we don't have to worry about them."

"Say no more. I'll keep them so busy they won't know anything is going on."

I smiled at Ella's determination to help in any way she could. I gathered Katie's things and we headed down to 5. The minute we stepped off on 5 I knew the guys were feeling the shift in the air around us as well and they were gearing up for a fight. We headed to the conference room and we were soon joined by everyone not on monitor duty. Sam and Phil were scheduled to watch the monitors and so we knew we didn't have long before there would be some kind of attack. Rodriguez made his way over to where Rafael was seated and sat next to him. I noticed Rafael smiled at him and Rodriguez nodded before turning his attention to Ranger.

It only took 20 minutes to get through the meeting. There would be no assignments today. No one would leave the building till the attack was over regardless of the reason. That's why it had been so important for Ram to make contact with the six men on the list. My phone buzzed letting me know I had an incoming call. I checked the text that had just come in and smiled as I saw the message Randy sent, six incoming in 5 minutes. I felt eyes on me and turned to Rafael. He smiled and I knew he had gotten the message as well. The only thing left to be decided was what to do about the Judas. Rafael placed his hand on my arm and I watched as his eyes twinkled and I got a glimpse of something he held in tight control. 'Don't worry Momma. No one will hurt my family.'

I couldn't help but feel an overpowering sense of love for this little boy that was part of Ranger and me. I wasn't aware that the others saw a blinding white light as a feeling of love wrapped around them but that's how Ranger described it later. We were finally done with the meeting and we all stood up to go. I walked through the Conference Room door and felt the change in the atmosphere. Rafael felt it too as he thought, 'Hand Katie to Rodriguez. He's the only one who can keep her safe while we are busy.'

I turned to Rodriguez and handed him my precious baby. His eyes held mine and I could hear him think, 'With my life I will protect her.'

At that moment Lula stepped off the elevator with Lillie and they rushed in our direction. Lula spoke softly, "Lillie told me it was time for her to come help Rafe kick some butt."

Sam and Phil stood from there place at the monitors and headed in our direction. The stairwell door opened and Randy, Mooner and the police officer we all called Barney Fife came onto the floor. I raised an eyebrow at seeing Barney…that wasn't his real name but it would work for now. There were three men I had never seen before but from their appearance I knew who they were. Micha was an absolutely perfect specimen of manhood. He was like a blonde Angel. I felt Ranger look at me and I grinned up at him and let him know he had nothing to fear. 'No matter how perfect someone might look they wouldn't interest me because I already had my perfect love.' My eyes twinkled as I added for Ranger, 'Besides, he bats for the other team.' We both looked at Hector and noticed he seemed to recognize Micha. Hmm, we'd have to check that out later. The other two men had dark complexions, black hair and eyes and were swarthy looking. They looked identical except one of them had a deep, jagged scar across his entire face. I had never met them before, only hearing their names whispered in fear. The unmarked man was Dealer and the other was Scar. A moment later the elevator opened and Janie wheeled herself out to join us and Lainey, Diesel and Mathew were with her. There was a popping sound and Wulf put in an appearance as well.

Sam looked at Phil and smiled, "Looks like they are expecting something."

Phil nodded, "Looks that way."

Sam turned and his eyes gleamed with something awful, a sneer appearing on his face. "Then we shouldn't disappoint them should we?"

Sam pressed something in his hands and suddenly there were more beings standing beside him. Janie was nearly to where we were and I felt Hal's fear for his wife. I could see the look on Sam's face and that his first attack was going to be directed at her. I made a movement to step forward but before I could Phil stepped towards us and his eyes came up and locked with mine and I knew it would be okay. Phil stood so he blocked Janie till she could join us and she positioned herself in front of where Rodriguez stood with Katie in his arms and Lillie, Mathew, and Rafael beside him. Phil waited till she was in place and then he turned and stood with the rest of us. The look on Sam's face told us he felt he had been betrayed by a trusted friend.

Sam brought his hand up and threw his hand in our direction. There was a look of hatred on his face as he snarled and said, "Then be destroyed with them."

I linked hands with Diesel and Ranger and we stepped forward. It was suddenly much hotter and the wind was blowing. My eyes narrowed as I pinned my gaze on Sam. 'This is my family and you will not harm them.'

Sam roared, 'I am the next King! I have been waiting for 100 years for this day and I won't allow you to interfere. You aren't even unmentionables. You are nobodies.'

Wulf smiled mockingly at Sam and said, 'It is you who are a nobody. You are making bad enemies. And the traitors with you won't prove worthy as minions.'

As one the group behind Sam sent a blow our way which was easily deflected. I frowned, puzzled that we seemed to have such an easy time of deflecting their attack. I paused and let my mind open. Suddenly I felt the danger and the true purpose of this attack. I turned to see Rodriguez and Janie being hit with a vortex type whirlwind that seemed to be trying to pull the children away from them. I was unable to go and help my babies because at that moment Sam and the ones in front of us started throwing everything they had at us to keep our attention diverted. Suddenly Rafael was in my head, 'Don't worry Momma. Rodriguez and Janie will protect us and allow us to fight this off. You must take care of the others.'

My eyes narrowed and I nodded. I turned my focus to Sam and let my rage loose. I felt my breathing deepen and the energy grow. I saw them band together and soon they were struggling to match our power. I felt Ranger's rage and it fed my own, increasing the hits I was sending their way. In a matter of minutes their screams started. Wulf joined our ranks and the marks started appearing as the screams became inhuman. The wall of friends and family with us offered us their strength and love which we were able to harness into power which we used to our advantage. I heard Katie cry and I was enraged even further that they were daring to hurt my baby. I took a deep breath and harnessed all the power at our fingertips and I threw it at the monsters in front of us. There were many screams and then they disintegrated. I turned and focused on the attack from behind us and I saw Rafael, Mathew and Lillie take hands with Janie and Rodriguez. They glowed as we watched. Katie's little hands were in the air and there was a tiny ball of fire forming between her little hands. It floated up into the air and slowly made its way into the attack getting bigger and bigger as it moved. Suddenly they all took a deep breath and I saw the look in Rodriguez's eyes as he narrowed them on the center of the attack and the ball of flame went whipping into its center.

There was an intense cry of pain and then an explosion in the air before finally a sense of ending. Rafael turned to look at me and I saw the smile on his face and the gleam in his eyes. 'Looks like we rocked their sleigh Momma. It'll take them a few days to recoup from this one.' I smiled at my son and went to step forward when I heard a gasp. I turned to see Erik looking stunned as he looked at the group before us. I turned back to try and see what he was reacting to and I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. Janie was standing beside Lillie and there were no scars on Rodriguez. I looked down at Rafael and he winked.

We all pitched in on the cleanup and in no time we were ready to celebrate Christmas. We had a wonderful time with our family and friends. At one point I heard Phil stop by where Tank was sitting and he said, "I'm sorry I wasn't able protect you from the bullet. I had to let Sam think I was with him on this so I had the information we needed in time. I'm also sorry I set off all those alarms, but he was planning to send people in and wanted to test if they would be found out and just how sensitive your alarms were. He wanted to ambush some of the men so you would be weaker when he attacked. Everyone would be grieving and your power wouldn't be as strong."

Tank looked at Phil and nodded, "You were looking out for our greater good. Nice to have you on our side Philip."

Philip grinned and there was a look of joy on his face. I turned to Ranger and watched as he stood and raised his glass. "I'd like to raise a toast to all of you, friends and family alike. Thank you for your unswerving loyalty and dedication."

Everyone raised their glasses and said, "Here, here."

We settled down and enjoyed the rest of our Christmas. As we sat around talking and enjoying our time together, I heard the piano start and then the children's voices as they sang Christmas Carols. I smiled as the chords to The Twelve Days of Christmas played but instead of the words I expected to hear I heard another version. I watched as Derry, Philip, Rodriguez, Diesel, Dealer, Barney, Randy, Mooner, Micha, Scar, and Wulf stood up around the piano where Janie sat and looked at the rest of us as the song started and they began to sing and everyone else joined in as well. I couldn't help laughing that the new words reflected the past 12 days of our lives to a T.

_On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
A Judas Among Us.  
On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Four False Alarms, Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Five New Clues…  
Four False Alarms, Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Six Allies Helping, Five New Clues…  
Four False Alarms, Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the seventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Seven Cars A Burning, Six Allies Helping, Five New Clues…  
Four False Alarms, Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the eighth day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Eight Guns a Blazing, Seven Cars A Burning, Six Allies Helping, Five New Clues…  
Four False Alarms, Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the ninth day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Nine Ladies Glowing, Eight Guns a Blazing, Seven Cars a Burning,  
Six Allies Helping, Five New Clues…  
Four False Alarms, Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the tenth day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Ten Lightning Bolts, Nine Ladies Glowing, Eight Guns a Blazing, Seven Cars a Burning,  
Six Allies Helping, Five New Clues…  
Four False Alarms, Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the Eleventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Eleven Planners Planning, Ten Lightning Bolts, Nine Ladies Glowing, Eight Guns a Blazing,  
Seven Cars a Burning, Six Allies Helping, Five New Clues…  
Four False Alarms, Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us.  
On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me,  
Twelve Guardians of Power, Eleven Planners Planning, Ten Lightning Bolts, Nine Ladies Glowing, Eight Guns a Blazing, Seven Cars a Burning, Six Allies Helping, Five New Clues…  
Four False Alarms, Three Bullet Wounds, Two Skips a Chasing and a Judas Among Us._

We ended the singing with We Wish You A Merry Christmas and by then it was time to say our goodnights and head to our own beds which were located in the bunker until after the New Year.

_So all of you out there who thought the bad guy was Sam from the get go…you were right. And now you know why Sam's reaction to Barney was so strong. This is the last chapter until the 27__th__ of December when I should have the next chapter up. Now we need to see what kinds of things are in store for Stephanie and her family as they prepare for the New Year's Eve battle. I would like to take this time to wish all of you a MERRY CHRISTMAS! Hope all of you have a safe and wonderful Christmas with your family and friends._


	18. An Ending In Sight

**Disclaimer: The characters you recognize as J.E. are hers. Any other character is a figment of my imagination and any similarities to real persons is merely a coincidence**

This story is definitely AU. The characters have the same physical appearance as in J.E.'s books; however I have changed ages of some characters. This is a Babe HEA and Cupcake fans may not be happy as Joe is dead as are Frank and Helen Plum. The Plums as well as Joe are not portrayed favorably, they were bad characters in the original and references may be made in this story as to what their actions were in the original story. References may be made to any of the books in the series, so if you haven't read them all, you may want to wait to read this. That said…

_**I would like to thank all those who review as guests and those who have PMing turned off. I greatly appreciate all the reviews. **_

Chapter 18: An Ending In Sight

Stephanie's POV:

It had been a long night. It was well past midnight when Ranger and I brought the children up to the penthouse to get some sleep. For the next several days we had all the families staying in the bunker. We weren't taking any chances that the families of those we loved would be targeted. I opened my eyes to see Ranger slipping into his workout gear. I smiled as I let my eyes wander over my hunky husband and I let my tongue roll around to wet my lips. As if he knew what I was doing Ranger stilled and turned to me, his eyes darkening with desire as he moved closer to where I lay on the bed. I knew we had another 17 days before I would be released from the doctor to resume normal activity…but it had been a long few weeks and I wanted him so much.

Ranger leaned over and his mouth covered mine with such passion. I felt his weight and I welcomed it. I returned his kisses with an equal passion. Somehow Ranger's workout clothes disappeared and I felt his naked skin against me. I opened my legs and felt him settle between my legs. His hands felt hot against my flesh as he moved them over my body and I moaned at the pleasure he was bringing to my body. His mouth went from my mouth down to my breasts where he spent equal time with each breast before moving to regions south. When his mouth covered my mound I bucked, unable to remain still any longer. He rested a hand just above my mound and whispered, "Shh…easy Babe. I've got you."

The sudden blaring of the phone was an unwelcome interruption. We tried to ignore it but whoever was on the other end was insistent. Ranger answered the call with an impatient, "Yo." He paused for several moments and I could tell from the look he sent my way that the mood was well and truly lost. I rolled my eyes and slipped out of bed. I slipped into my own workout gear and padded towards the nursery to get Katie ready. I figured we might as well head down to the gym with Ranger since my early morning delight had been interrupted. Whoever the hell was on that phone better make sure they stayed out of my way for a bit.

I lifted my sleeping daughter and carried her with me as I went into Rafael's room. I smiled as I noticed he was already slipping into his own workout outfit. He looked up as I stopped inside the door and he grinned, "Guess Uncle Lester's in the dog house for calling Dad."

I winked, "Shh! Let's not tell him and let him find out on his own."

Rafael giggled, "This is gonna be good."

I giggled myself and replied, "Shall we go see if your Dad is ready?"

Rafael nodded. We made our way towards the kitchen and Ranger was there waiting for us. He raised an eyebrow as he met our gazes, "I thought I'd find you all here. I take it you are coming to the gym with me?"

I rolled my eyes and replied, "Well since Lester's timing really bites it seems like the best idea." I smiled and I knew my eyes were gleaming with the thoughts running through my mind as I added, "You wait till I get done with Lester though. I intend to pay him back in full for interrupting us."

Ranger gave a half smile, "Even though he probably saved you some discomfort from having baby number three before Katie turns 1?"

I pouted a bit and even though I realized Lester had probably done us a favor I would never admit to it and I planned on paying him back in kind the next time he was together with his fiancée. I felt my mouth move into a smile at the thought and I noticed Rafael's grin as he looked up at me. We made our way down to the gym and in no time we were finishing up our workouts. Just as we were headed back to the penthouse to shower and dress for the day, Lester entered the gym. I made sure to smile at him as we left and my smile widened as I heard him mutter, "Oh shit! I'm in it now."

I turned to look directly at him as I let my smile grow even more and I gave him a slight nod to let him know he was right. I turned and headed with my family to the elevator. By the time we were dressed for the day, Ella was arriving with breakfast. I took one of the Boston Creams she had placed on the table and moaned with my first bite. "Ella you are an Angel."

Ella smiled, "I'm glad you enjoy them."

I hugged her before taking my seat. "How would you feel about minding Katie for me so I can get some work done on what we have planned for New Years?"

"I'd love to have Katie. Shall I take her with me now?"

I bit my lip and replied, "Why don't I nurse her first and then when you leave she can go with?"

"Alright Dear. I'll just nip into the nursery and pack a few things for her."

I placed my hand on Ella's arm and smiled up at her. "Thank you."

Ella hugged me to her and said, "Have I ever told you how grateful I am that you came into our lives?"

I laughed, "Many times. It works both ways you know?"

Just then Ranger asked from the doorway, "Is this a closed admiration society or can anyone join?"

Ella straightened up and blushed before heading over to the stove to get Ranger's plate and bring it back to the table. She set his plate in front of him as he sat down before heading to the nursery to get Katie's bag ready. Ranger kissed my lips before taking his seat. A couple seconds later Rafael joined us and dug into the food on his plate which was a mix of my favorites and Ranger's as well. We were all just finishing when Katie started crying and I felt my shirt opening. I quickly grabbed my top before it could get too far and hurried into the nursery. I quickly changed Katie and put clean clothes on her before sitting in the rocker and nursing her. When she finished we made our way out to the kitchen where the others were still seated at the table.

I handed Katie to Ella and Rafael frowned before asking, "Can I go with Katie to Grandma Ella's? I'd like to see Lillie and Mathew and they'll both be there."

I turned to Ella and noticed she was beaming at the prospect of all the children in her apartment. I laid my hand on Rafael's shoulder and nodded, "If it's all right with Ella."

Ella beamed and said, "They children are always welcome in my home as are you and Ranger."

With that Rafael got down from the table and went with Katie and Ella as she headed back to her apartment. I went over and leaned into Ranger, wrapping my arms around his neck and leaning down so my forehead was against his and when he turned to me my mouth covered his and we shared a very passionate kiss. Ranger's arm wrapped around my waist as he asked, "What are your plans today Babe?"

I met his gaze, "I thought I would do some planning for New Year's Eve."

Ranger's blank face slammed down and he nodded. "Anything you need just let me know."

I nodded. I planned to make sure we were all ready for what was to come. One thing I had learned in the past 5 years was that when it came to my family I would do what I had to in order to protect them. Ella had left with the children, so once Ranger headed down to 5, I went to the office we had in the penthouse. I had just sat down at the computer when there was a popping noise and Diesel and Wulf appeared. Our eyes met and we all knew what we needed to do. Time to get down to business.

_As you might have guessed, the story is coming to a closing. I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas, or whatever holiday you celebrate._


	19. The Three Musketeers On The Loose

**Disclaimer: The characters you recognize as J.E. are hers. Any other character is a figment of my imagination and any similarities to real persons is merely a coincidence**

This story is definitely AU. The characters have the same physical appearance as in J.E.'s books; however I have changed ages of some characters. This is a Babe HEA and Cupcake fans may not be happy as Joe is dead as are Frank and Helen Plum. The Plums as well as Joe are not portrayed favorably, they were bad characters in the original and references may be made in this story as to what their actions were in the original story. References may be made to any of the books in the series, so if you haven't read them all, you may want to wait to read this. That said…

_**I would like to thank all those who review as guests and those who have PMing turned off. I greatly appreciate all the reviews. **_

Chapter 19: The Three Musketeers On The Loose

Rafael's POV:

When Ella opened the door to her apartment I saw Mathew and Lillie were already there. I smiled. I had some ideas I wanted to run past them and couldn't wait to get their input on them. I nodded to Louis as I headed over to where my two friends were already seated playing a game. They stopped when I joined them and our eyes met. I smiled and they joined in. 'How about we do some planning for New Year's Eve?'

Mathew and Lillie both gave a slight nod. My smile grew and I let them know, 'I also have to think of a payback for Uncle Lester. He called this morning and interrupted Momma and Dad. Of course we can't get him too bad because if he hadn't Momma might be having another baby before the end of next year.'

Lillie scrunched up her nose, 'TMI there Rafe. Maybe we should go down to Uncle Lester's apartment to make sure next time he takes his foxy lady there he has a few surprises.'

Mathew's eyes gleamed. 'Excellent idea.'

We all turned and looked at Louis and Ella. Ella was distracted by Katie but I could tell by Louis's expression that he knew we were plotting something. He stood and made his way over to us. "All right you three…what are you hatching over here?"

We all looked up with our blank looks like we didn't know what he was talking about. Of course Grandpa Louis wasn't born yesterday and he gave us his don't try to bullshit me look. I grimaced inwardly and took a deep breath before admitting, "We were planning to prank Uncle Lester to pay him back for interrupting Momma and Dad."

Louis's eyes narrowed and then there was a smile that slowly emerged. "I'm in. Come with me and I'll get you into his place. I need to fix his sink for him and you three can be my helpers." He turned and told Grandma Ella, "I'm going to take these three with me down to Lester's so I can fix that sink of his."

"Alright dear." She fixed us with a stern look, "Just make sure you know when to stop Dears. There is such a thing as going too far you know."

I rolled my eyes. There was no putting anything over on Ella. I grinned as I met her gaze, "We'll keep it down to just some fun."

Ella smiled, "I know you will."

With that the three of us headed down to the 4th floor with Louis and when he let us into Lester's apartment we headed right for the bedroom. We pulled the covers off the bed and got to work. Knowing Lester he would bring his fiancée down here tonight for some alone time. I looked at my two friends and we smiled in anticipation of what was to come. Lillie headed out to the kitchen and came back with peanut butter, whipped cream, jelly, marshmallow cream, and a few other things. We got busy and made sure the bed was perfectly made before we headed into the bathroom and set to work. Once we had everything just the way we wanted it we made our way out to the kitchen where Louis was working. We got the sugar bowl and salt and pepper shakers and took them over to the table where we doctored them. By the time we were done Louis was just finishing up. We turned and smiled, each giving a nod. We were done here and all I had to say was good luck Uncle Lester.

We headed back up to 6 with Grandpa Louis and went back to our game. When Momma called later to let Ella know she was done with her work and would be up for Katie and me in a few moments I nodded to Ella to let her know I got the message. I turned back to Lillie and Mathew and let them know, 'New Year's Eve we need all our energy. It will be the worst fight yet. It will take everything we have to fight them.'

Mathew's eyes narrowed, 'Your Momma and my Papa will have their hands full. If we could fix Caden…'

We all looked to each other. My eyes narrowed and I focused on my goal. What I saw made my eyes narrow in anger. I blinked and looked to my two friends. 'It isn't a natural illness. Caden is being poisoned. In order to save him we need to find out who is doing it and what they are using.'

Mathew looked fierce, 'If we find out who they are they will be very sorry.'

We put our hands together and made our pact. At that moment the doorbell rang and Ella opened the door to Momma. I said goodbye to my friends and headed over to join Momma and Katie as she thanked Ella for having us and then we were on our way. As we made our way up to the penthouse I turned to Momma and carefully shared my thoughts. 'Momma, Caden is being poisoned. Do unmentionables have kryptonite?'

I could see Momma thinking over my question and then she got a funny look on her face. 'Rafael, go into the office and turn on my computer. I'm going to put Katie down and give Diesel a call and I'll join you.'

I did as Momma asked and a few moments later she and Diesel were walking into the office. Momma sat down in the chair and lifted me in her lap as Diesel looked over her shoulder. I watched as Momma's hands flew over the keys and she typed in varied pieces of information. When she stopped we all stared at the information in front of us. Then I looked up at Momma and Diesel and noticed their gazes were locked as well. I asked the question I knew we were all thinking, 'What do we do now?'

Momma looked down at me and smiled grimly, 'What we have to do.'

Diesel nodded but added nothing further. He bent and kissed Momma's forehead. 'I'll be back when I can. Try not to have all the fun while I'm gone.' There was a popping noise and Diesel was gone.

Momma looked at me and smiled, 'Proud of you son.'

I snuggled into her and felt her love surround me as she held me in her arms.

Lester's POV:

I had just had the shift from hell. It all started when I got a tip about the cop Sam had talked to at the cop shop when we took our skips in a few days ago and I needed to call and let Ranger know. I could tell from his tone that I had interrupted and then Beautiful's smile when she left the gym let me know I'd really stepped in it. I smiled inwardly thinking she would probably be more grateful for the interruption than really pissed, however that wouldn't stop her from the payback. I headed down to my apartment where I had asked Robyn to meet me when she finished her shift. She was done working till after the New Year and we had a special night planned tonight and then she would remain in the Rangeman building until after the big fight coming our way. When I told her about it she said she would be there to help us.

I unlocked my apartment and smiled as I smelled the wonderful aroma. I made my way into the kitchen where Robyn was standing stirring a sauce on the stove. I moved in behind her and wrapped my arms around her waist. "Mmm, smells good."

Robyn turned with a smile, "I hope it taste as good as it smells."

I leaned in and covered her mouth with mine as I let my hands roam over her. When she pulled back with a laugh she said, "If you make me burn this Lester you are in deep trouble."

I grinned at her and replied, "It would be worth it."

She kissed me quickly and said, "Why don't you set the table so we can eat."

I leaned down and claimed another kiss before going to do her bidding. In no time the table was set and I helped her transfer the food to dishes and carried them through as well. I opened a bottle of wine I knew would go well with the food and had been chilling all day. I helped Robyn into her seat and then poured us each a glass of wine before taking my own seat. We dug into our food and I took a huge first bite knowing Robyn was a gourmet cook. My eyes widened as I got my first taste of the dish. I put my blank face in place and forced myself to continue chewing the sugary concoction. Once I had finally managed to swallow I met Robyn's eager gaze and gave a weak smile.

Robyn's face fell. "You don't like it do you?"

"It's not that I don't like it. It's just a little sweeter than I anticipated."

"Sweeter? It shouldn't be sweet at all!" She took a small bite and chewed only to make a face and set her fork down on her plate. "I don't understand. There shouldn't be a sugar taste at all. I know I followed the recipe."

"Don't worry about it Baby. It's still good."

Robyn looked crestfallen. We continued to eat and I managed to empty my plate before grinning and saying, "Is that a pie I smell for dessert?"

Robyn's face lit up, "Yes. I made your favorite peach pie."

"I can't wait to dig into that. Nobody does it better than you."

Robyn got up and went to get us each a piece of peach pie and she put a scoop of homemade ice cream on top before bringing both plates over to us. I waited till she sat down before taking a huge bite of my savory dessert. My eyes bugged out as the flavors went to war in my mouth. I managed to swallow the bite and then I dove for my wine glass and emptied the contents before realizing it wasn't water. I was coughing and sputtering and Robyn was frowning at me. "Lester what's wrong with you?"

I managed to turn to her once I got my watering eyes under control and asked, "Did you change the recipe?"

Robyn froze and looked down at the bite she was about to take. She placed it back on the plate and broke off a much smaller piece. The minute it hit her mouth she stood and dashed to the kitchen in order to spit it out. Smart girl. Wish I would have thought of that. Just then the doorbell rang and I stood to answer the door. Ella stood with a peach crumble and half gallon of ice cream. She smiled and said, "I made too much dessert. Can I talk the two of you into taking care of this for me?"

I leaned down and kissed her cheek. "Thanks Ella. You're an angel."

I went and got clean dishes and dished up the crumble that was still warm and added ice cream. We ate our new dessert and I tried to tease Robyn out of her sad mood. "Aw Baby, don't be upset."

Her gaze met mine, "I've never had this problem before."

I shook my head, "It's just a fluke. Everything will look better in the morning."

She smiled weakly and I kept up the charm until she was once again smiling and we were having a good time. We watched a movie all the while necking and going from just fooling around to getting hot and heavy. I stood and lifted her in my arms and we headed into the bedroom where I set her down beside the bed to pull back the covers before lifting her and placing her in the center of the bed. I quickly removed her clothes and then my own and crawled onto the bed with her. I had my hands above her shoulders on either side of her and my knees were on either side of her thighs. I leaned forward to kiss her and my hands and knees moved a fraction of an inch wider out and I felt something squishy that was suddenly all over my hands and knees. I couldn't help the, "What the hell?"

Robyn looked at me with confusion, "What's wrong?"

I lifted my hands to see a brown sticky mess on each of them and I fell onto the bed beside Robyn and went still. Whatever substance was on my hands was nothing compared to what I just fell into. I jumped off the bed and threw the blanket back to see the gooey mess that was my bed. I growled thinking I owed someone a payback. Robyn took one look at me and then the bed and burst into laughter. I stalked off to the shower knowing I had to get myself clean. I turned on the water and rinsed off the sticky stuff as best as I could before grabbing the bar of soap and washing up. I wrinkled my nose at the over the top flowery scent coming from somewhere and managed to get myself clean. I had gotten a bit of the sticky mess in my hair so shampooing that was my next step. Once I was all clean I wrapped a towel around my hair and my waist and went to shave. The shaving cream smelled a little funny and when some got into my mouth I realized it tasted like whipped cream. I stilled as a sudden thought came to me and my eyes gleamed. I knew Stephanie hadn't been anywhere near my apartment. However, Louis had been down to fix the sink and I knew the kids had been with my aunt and uncle today. My eyes narrowed as I realized the three Musketeers were responsible for the disaster of this evening. I shook my head and wondered what I had done to warrant all this. A picture of me calling Ranger this morning popped into my head and I sighed.

I checked out the rest of my stuff and realized they had gotten to all of it. I dumped it all in the trash and tossed the towels in the basket before heading back to the bedroom. The minute I entered the room Robyn started laughing hysterically. I sent her a puzzled look and she pointed above my head. What? Just then I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and froze. _What the hell_?_ PINK HAIR_! How the hell did I get _PINK_ hair? I growled. She was still laughing. My eyes gleamed and I stalked over to her. Robyn suddenly stilled as she took in the look on my face and her eyes darkened with desire and I felt an answering desire as I swooped in and covered her with my body. The clinking sound gave me pause and I tried to move only to find my hands were handcuffed to the bed posts at opposite sides of the now clean bed. I bowed my head and let out a roar before turning to Robyn to ask her to help get me out of this mess. She was silently shaking.

I frowned and asked, "What's so funny?"

"Who did you piss off Lester? They switched the sugar and salt, trashed your bed, you smell like a flower shop and gave you pink hair."

I sighed, "I had to call Ranger this morning and I interrupted something. I know Stephanie was working on 5 today and didn't have a chance to get in here but those three little kids just trashed us."

Robyn giggled, "So all this was Rafael paying you back for upsetting Stephanie?"

"Oh yeah."

"Remind me never to piss that kid off."

Robyn and I stilled as I swear I heard three little giggles and then Rafael's voice saying, 'Don't worry Robyn. You could never do that. But unless you guys are ready to have a baby I'd be very careful what you do for a while. Lillie was having fun with the stapler this afternoon and since Uncle Lester's condoms were the only thing she could find to staple you guys might be in for some trouble.'

I looked at Robyn and both of our eyes widened.

_The next chapter should be the last one. _


	20. The Rise of a King

**Disclaimer: The characters you recognize as J.E. are hers. Any other character is a figment of my imagination and any similarities to real persons is merely a coincidence**

This story is definitely AU. The characters have the same physical appearance as in J.E.'s books; however I have changed ages of some characters. This is a Babe HEA and Cupcake fans may not be happy as Joe is dead as are Frank and Helen Plum. The Plums as well as Joe are not portrayed favorably, they were bad characters in the original and references may be made in this story as to what their actions were in the original story. References may be made to any of the books in the series, so if you haven't read them all, you may want to wait to read this. That said…

_**I would like to thank all those who review as guests and those who have PMing turned off. I greatly appreciate all the reviews. **_

Chapter 20: The Rise of a King

Rafael's POV:

We woke up early on New Year's Eve. We were all planning to get in a work out in the gym to help us get ready for the fight later in the day. I dressed in my work out clothes and headed to the den to wait for everyone else. There was a pop and Diesel was standing there in front of me with a very weak Caden. I jumped up and did what I could to help Diesel get him situated on the sofa. Caden turned to me and smiled weakly, "Diesel tells me you figured out someone is poisoning me."

My eyes widened and I nodded, "But were we in time?"

Caden closed his eyes, "That's a good question. I think it depends on what they used."

I nodded. I moved closer to Caden and felt the strength of the poison. I placed my hands on Caden and let my energy flow through both of us. We had just gotten started when I felt Momma join me and wrap herself around me. It didn't take me long to find the root of the poison. I reached for it but before I could connect, Momma was there to stop the contact. She pulled us out of Caden and physically moved us away. When I turned a questioning look her way she shook her head, "It's a trap. In order to save Caden the poison has to be plucked out. But there is a trap set so whoever touches the poison will become the infected one. We need to find a safe way of pulling it out."

Caden turned to me, "Rafael, I am going to ask you and your Mother to promise me something."

I met his serious gaze and knew what he was going to ask, "What?"

"Promise me that no one will try to pull the poison out."

I held his gaze for several seconds before I replied, "I promise that Momma, Katie, Mathew, Lillie, Diesel and me won't try to remove it. But if I can find a way to save you without us having to touch the poison I will go for it."

Caden thought for a moment and then said, "As long as none of you, your friends or families are sacrificed for me."

I nodded. We left Caden to rest while we got ready for the day. Instead of going to the gym we would be getting set for the fight here. I had an idea but wasn't sure if I could pull it off. I needed to look into it more. I went to my room and dressed in my bad ass black like Dad. I felt Mathew and Lillie and let them know about Caden. We kept throwing what ifs back and forth until Lillie asked why we couldn't just let the guy who put it there be the one to pull it out and I stilled. I thought she might have something. I told them to hold on and I went back into the den and asked Caden about it. He stilled and then our eyes met and he nodded. He said it would work but that the three of us would have to hide the poison from the others until after they had pulled it out. I knew we could do it and so I smiled and headed back so we could get to planning.

Suddenly I felt a crackle in the air and I smiled. I ran to Momma and saw she was standing with Dad in the kitchen with a faraway look in her eyes. I moved closer and took her hand. She looked down at me and her eyes came into focus. The smile on her face was beautiful and her eyes glowed with wonder. 'There's going to be a couple new additions today.'

I nodded. A moment later the bell dinged and the door opened to admit Diesel, Lainey and Mathew. Momma went over to Lainey and threw her arms around her. "The babies are coming aren't they?"

Lainey nodded. "Yes. For some reason they insisted on coming up here."

Momma led Lainey into the apartment and got her all situated. It didn't take long before the apartment was filled with people. Uncle Hal and Aunt Janie, Uncle Bobby and Lexi, Uncle Lester and Robyn, Uncle Tank and Aunt Lula, Uncle Rodriguez and Derry and Philip were there as well. It was a long day and I knew the girls wanted very much to be born soon. Whenever they came close there was a blow to the building. Lainey was growing weak and I knew she needed to have the babies soon or she wouldn't have enough energy. I motioned to Mathew and Lillie and we formed a wall between Lainey and whatever was draining her. I heard Uncle Bobby tell her to push and Mathew and I stood on either side of Lillie with our hands clasped and we fended off whatever was trying to get through. Just when things started to look bad there was a popping sound and Wulf stood behind us with both his hands on Lillie's shoulders. Suddenly there was an influx of power and we pushed them away. In the next instant there were two distinctive cries as Mathew's sisters were born.

I felt the rage come at us and waved it away with my hand. There was another popping sound and Uncle Lester stood between us and the new threat. I knew this was the man Sam had spoken to at the police station because Uncle Lester had broadcast the information the moment he saw the man. I also knew this was the being that had poisoned Caden. Just then Lillie, Mathew and I concentrated on shoring up Caden and he stood and came to stand in front of us. He looked at the newcomer and looked as if he knew this is how it would end.

Caden's eyes narrowed as he said, "I figured you would be the one behind this Nedac."

Nedac sneered and asked, "Did you really expect it to be any other way? Because you were born 2 seconds before me you were deemed the royal one and I was the spare. Well it looks like the spare will end up as the royal one after all."

"You failed. The poison you intended to kill me has failed."

Nedac looked furious. "No! That can't be true."

I felt Nedac near and he entered Caden to locate the poison. He was furious when he couldn't find it and grasped what he believed was the essence of Caden. He yanked and pulled it bringing it out of Caden with him as he exited. Nedac looked down at his hand and his eyes widened in horror as he realized just what he had done. "No! You can't do this to me!"

Already Caden was stronger and he spoke softly to say, "It's done. What you placed inside me you have now removed by your own hand."

Nedac sneered, "It won't matter. Even if I'm destroyed I told them not to leave anyone alive. They will come after all of you and destroy you."

I saw Caden frown and knew he thought there was extreme danger headed our way. Just then there was a howling and I could feel the rage headed our way. I could feel them heading for the weak spot and felt the force of them slamming into the force field even though it seemed they had no force behind them. There was a white light coming from the bed and a bubble formed which held us all. Suddenly we were being hit on all sides. I felt Diesel and Momma trying to fight them off but there were too many of them. We joined in the fight and as we struggled to keep them out, I noticed every time the babies cried the force hitting us diminished.

Rodriguez took Katie in his arms and he and Janie both went over to the bed where the twins were with Lainey. I knew they were trying to tell me something but they didn't quite know how to express what they were thinking. Suddenly I turned and focused my gaze on them and smiled. 'It's okay girls. I got it. Let's go for it.' I turned to Mathew and Lillie and knew they understood what we were about to do. I focused on those attacking us and gave a slight nod. Suddenly there was a defining roar and a force like nothing I had ever seen before rose up and slammed at all those coming at us. I waved my hand and thought, 'It's over. Be gone.'

Suddenly there was quiet. After several seconds there was an inhuman scream that made the hair on the back of your neck stand on end. Then after several seconds there was absolute quiet. I turned to the others and knew it was over. I went to Momma to make sure she was okay and then Dad. One by one I made sure all my family and our friends were okay. Caden laid a hand on my shoulder and said. "You have saved me and the other unmentionables from a reign of terror. For this we thank you. Although I am now able to continue to rule, I need to tell you that you are our King. It falls to you to dictate the laws we follow and I as well as the others at court are there to enforce your rule."

I frowned, "But you are better now. Why can't you just continue?"

Caden smiled, "Nedac showed the others that I wasn't impenetrable. I am fallible like all the others. Only someone stronger than us can rule. You have the power to banish us with a thought. You can strip our powers at will. Only you can rule us."

I nodded, accepting his logic. "Then let the others know if they want to remain an unmentionable they need to stop attacking me and my family. The next one that comes after us won't fare so well."

Caden bowed, "I will explain it to them."

I nodded and smiled, "So are you going to ring in the New Year with us?"

"No. There is much to be done before the celebration begins tomorrow. You are all invited."

Momma asked, "Celebration?"

Caden nodded and grinned, "We will crown our New King tomorrow."

Everyone looked at me and I shrugged. "Can my Rangeman family come as well?"

Caden grinned, "You can invite anyone you want to. You are the King after all."

There was a popping sound and Wulf and Caden disappeared. The rest of us went to meet the new twins. Lainey smiled and said, "Everyone, I would like you to meet Noel and Joy."

I looked them both over and said, "They both have a balance of beauty and power equal to the other."

Momma wrapped me into her arms and kissed my forehead, "You will be a great King."

I grinned up at her and said, "Does that mean I can stay up as late as I want?"

Momma laughed and leaned her forehead to mine, "You may be King of the Unmentionables, but your Dad and I still lay down the rules in our house young man."

I laughed and wrapped my arms around her neck, "I wouldn't want it any other way Momma."

I heard Mathew and Lillie ask, 'Does this mean we get to go with to see you crowned?'

I winked at them in my mind's eye and said, 'Why of course. We are after all the Three Musketeers.'

_We are at the end of another adventure. I thought about giving an epilogue thirty years on but decided to leave it open for another epilogue some time in the future. Although I am sorry to see the story end, we reached a good stopping point. I would like to take a moment to wish all of you a very Happy New Year and if you go out please drive safely. May 2013 be a wonderful year for everyone! Until the next ride... Christi_


End file.
